Love and War: The Shadow of Beacon (Edited)
by OliverDickens
Summary: This is the same as my other book, Love and War, except I have edited it slightly, and structured the paragraphs. It is about a young huntsman in training, coming to terms with himself and learning to be a great person. I hope you like it.
1. Slow beginnings

Li woke up slowly, as he always does, clenching his fists and pushing the dreams out of his mind and snapping back to reality. The light snuck its way past his curtains and illuminated his small room. His room only had the bare essentials, a bed, a wardrobe and a desk just large enough for a laptop or his notebook, but never both.

The day had come. He will soon start his second year at Beacon. He was not excited because for him it signalled the start of another difficult year. He rose groggily from his tiny single bed. Li noticed the sweet smell of pancakes, making his mouth water in anticipation. He sat relishing the anticipation that he may soon taste them himself. He quickly snapped back from his stupor upon realising that the pancakes were coming from the apartment across the narrow alley.

He stood, and lumbered over to the door; he took a moment before opening the door, to collect his thoughts. He snapped up his towel from the back of the chair and headed out the door to the bathroom.

Once in, and thankful he had no run-ins with his mother before he had fully awoken, he picked up his toothbrush and started his morning routine but not before staring into his own deep brown eyes and trying to prepare himself for the coming year.

After he dried himself off from his shower, he was well and truly awake. The smell of pancakes once again filled his nostrils once he returned to his room to change.

He came out with his casual clothing on, a deep orange beanie covering his dark brown messy hair. The weather seemed in good spirits today, so he wore his long sleeve orange shirt with black t-shirt over the top today, rather than his favoured academy hoodie. Simple dark grey jeans and black and orange shoes adorned his lower half. Li did not look by any sense of the word, fashionable, however he chose his clothing based on comfort and nothing else.

He walked out to the kitchen to make himself some cereal and hopefully forget about the pancakes plaguing his mind. He found the room empty, and cold. The fridge was left slightly open, and a note left on the table.

Li's mother had clearly left early and in a hurry, once again; working in the centre of Vale kept her very busy. Li opened the fridge, noticed the water collecting on the shelves and noted that his mother must have left very early, or he had awoken very late.

He quickly checked his scroll to see the time. 10:24. Yes. Yes he had woken up very late. He quickly grabbed a snack bar from the cupboard and, after adorning his weapons to his lower back, walked out the door, making sure to leave the house in some semblance of order. Double checking that he closed the fridge.

Behind him he dragged a large suitcase. Even though he was over an hour late for his first day, he did not rush, instead he chose to stay calm and move methodically. The walk to beacon was a long one, Li preferred to walk to his destinations, public transport was unnecessary in his opinion, but that also meant he didn't arrive at Beacon until about 11:00. He was 2 hours late.

It didn't matter, today was all about the freshmen (and freshwomen). All the years are asked to attend the day so that the first years can interact and feel more welcomed, and Li knew he wouldn't be a welcoming student, even if he wanted to try.

Li moved up to the front gates, hearing the thrum of quiet conversation occurring in the main courtyard. Fortunately he noticed the large crater nestled near the front of the academy before tripping into it.

He didn't care much, and assumed it was some freshman showing off. Li cared little and less for other people, especially ones who may try to interact with him. He learnt quickly that he doesn't get along with people easily. Li didn't know why it was, it seemed that it maybe that people didn't trust him, but he could never be sure.

Li sauntered over to the dorms, and quickly found his room; pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts, he prepared himself to see his team after the 6 week break from them.

He slowly opened the door, expecting stern untrusting eyes to be fixed on him, luckily, he found the room empty, and he could avoid an awkward conversation for at least another few minutes.

He had no doubt his other teammates will be at the meet and greet for the first years, he had known since being put on team PLYM, pronounced plum, that he did not belong with them.

All three of them were sociable and fun people, with friends throughout the academy, Peter Yii was the leader of team PLYM, and Li had no misgivings about him, Li even felt glad that their leader was such a stout and caring individual, however this did not mean anything for Li. Peter was caring towards those he deemed his friends, and Li was certainly not within that circle. Li was grateful at least that regardless of Peter's feelings towards him, he never let it show in combat. The twins Yu and Michelle Lei were both lovely people and even tried to be friends with Li. Li, however, knew what that may lead to for the girls, considering all their friends opinions of him, so he shut them out, and had even on a few occasions intentionally, and rudely, pushed them as far away from him as possible

Li was reminiscing all about his previous year while unpacking and sorting out his area in the corner of the room, as closed off as possible.

While storing his empty suitcase neatly under his large bed, he heard the door open, and a wave of laughter wash through the room. He quickly heard the laughter dissipate into hushes and whispering.

He turned slowly to see his team looking at him, with blank stares, he rose and placed one hand clenched in front of his chest and the other mirrored on his back. Li stood straighter and emphasized his salute, while speaking sternly and respectfully, "Good day teammates, it has been too long. I am glad to be here to spend another year with you."

The words came ringing out with little emotion. simply respect, the words fell upon deaf ears, his teammates were used to Li's form of greeting, and were no longer confused by it. There was a time that the rest of team PLYM even found his greeting funny, however even that soon became a dead joke.

Li only noticed the uproar of laughter once he finished saluting and went back to stuffing his suitcase under the bed, he knew it wasn't his teammates as they had stopped laughing at him a long time ago, Li believing it was because they detested him now, or they pitied him. Li hoped they only detested him, he could not stand people pitying him, he could barely get by with his own self-pity.

Li turned to see a group of five people gathered by the door, behind team PLYM, all but one toppling over laughing at Li.

There were three guys and two girls. One of the guys was the only one not laughing quite as hard as the others. Li could not tell what the four laughing freshmen looked like, as they seemed to be a blur of rolling and roiling bodies. However the boy looking over at him, his eye filled with what Li assumed was pity, had short brown/blonde hair and cloudy blue eyes, he was clearly a fearsome fighter, with a large build and even when slouched a seemingly daunting stature.

Li did not know him, and knew he never would, but the boy reminded Li of someone; too much to continue staring and not break down. Li quickly finished shoving his suitcase under his bed and double timed it away to his favoured spot in Beacon.


	2. History hurts

Li sat there at the large bay window.

He stared unblinking out into the city, the sun setting now. Only then did Li realise just how long he had been here trying to recover.

No-one had bothered him, he knew why; the bay window he was currently residing in was past the library, up 3 flights of stairs and round a corner. The only room the route led to was a room to store old books that had had newer versions replace them in the library.

Li knew his place was his own, and he was glad to have a place to get away from everyone, to collect his thoughts and recharge after a day of dealing with other people.

Li continued to sit and watch the sunset, occasionally taking out his tablet to snap a picture of the beautiful scene, and uploading the pictures to his home computer.

It was starting to get dark when he heard movement behind him, Li turned to see amber eyes stare for only a second before turning back away and hurrying off. _'Great', _Li thought, '_another person I've scared off'. _

Soon after the darkness closed in all around Li, he finally felt calm enough to make his way back to the room. He hoped that his teammates were asleep or out socialising, to make his night go easier.

As he was making his way back to the room, he realised just how late it was when he noticed all the first years in and around the ballroom entrance.

He walked by without a second glance, hearing some shouting and the sound of a small fight. _"Arrogant freshmen showing off again" _thought Li.

He understood why they may fight, the first few days at Beacon are crucial to all first years to ensure their four years at the school are decent. Li remembered back to his first few days at Beacon. He almost felt happiness wash over him, almost.

Even if the first few days are successful, sometimes it just doesn't work out. Fate can be cruel; Li knew this more than most. He pushed the thoughts and memories from his mind and continued on to his room.

He listened intently at the door, trying to determine whether there was anyone else inside; he could hear some movement, but no talking, and so he assumed the three teammates were asleep. He was wrong.

He opened the door silently and slowly, trying not to wake up his teammates, however they all noticed the door slowly creeping open, and so when Li emerged from behind, all eyes were on him.

Even though they were awake, Li was grateful that it was only his three teammates, talking to each other and socialising.

Peter looked at Li with disdain, then sighed and motioned for Li to join them; clearly they were having a team meeting. Yu and Michelle both gave beaming smiles towards Li, although whether or not they were sincere, Li was unsure.

Li cautiously approached Peter's bed, and at the spot Peter had motioned to, sat softly. Peter started, "Okay, we are all here, and we are all ready for the New Year." Peter spoke hard and bluntly, there was no questioning tone. "We each have a number of areas we need to improve on, to give team PLYM a chance in the tournament at the end of the semester. Yu, you need to work on your positioning and timing. Michelle, your long-range attacks and your supporting roles need bolstering. I suggest you take the relevant classes to help with this, in addition to anything else you feel will improve yourself, try to limit taking classes because they are easy or because there is some boy you like in them, please."

Peter was an apt leader, and he knew his teammates well, well most of his teammates. Peter turned to Li, sighed and continued, "Li, you need to improve on a number of classes, the main ones being communication and teamwork," Li nodded along, knowing that he had a lot to do this year, "and I will want you to learn some weapon maintenance skills, so that you can support all our equipment and gear in the field if we ever need it.

Li looked up, eyes widened slightly, and he took a deep breath, "I.. um.. I am actually quite okay, with.. ma.. maintenance already. I learnt a lot from my father, and he alw.." Li caught himself, before he let slip any more about himself. "He taught me about forging, so I can do that already for you guys."

He finished abruptly, and softly, hoping they didn't probe any further about what he said. Peter and the twins all looked at each other, nodded, and said nothing else about it.

Li felt like his part was done, and moved over to his own bed in the other corner, Peter didn't protest and so Li took that as permission to go to sleep.

As Li tried to close himself off from the world, long enough to fall asleep, he knew the others had continued to talk, but he did not listen, instead tried his best to will sleep to come. It did come. Eventually.

Li woke up when he wanted to, no alarm could ever succeed in waking him, so he stopped using one long ago.

Normally Li would wake up slowly, needing to go through his morning routine before being considered living. Today was different though.

Today his eyes shot wide open as soon as he regained consciousness. A dreamless sleep last night. He was pleased with that, but it worried him. He always had the same dream. He put it out of his mind and sat up.

With eyes unblinking, searing at the light that they were absorbing, he stood, and walked out the door.

The rest of team PLYM stirred as the door slammed shut, a very out of character act for Li. The twins locked eyes and seemed somewhat concerned, but left it alone and went back to sleep. Peter never looked up, but only shifted in his bed.

Li walked. Just walked. He was still wearing the same casual clothing he had worn yesterday, never changing out of it before collapsing into his bed.

He saw some first years rushing to the locker rooms and felt curious, he was sure he could follow them and go to the emerald forest, but he knew that wouldn't be a smart idea.

Instead he walked out the front gates, and wandered about the city of Vale. It was 5:00 when Li had woken up, and it took him just over an hour to reach the centre of Vale; he stopped in the central courtyard.

He stayed looking out to each and every street for a number of minutes, taking it all in. After some time, Li walked to the street on his left, heading east, straight towards the Vale police station.

Li walked up to the double doors, lightly pushing one open a whisper, to see who was behind the front desk.

Once he saw short brown/blonde hair and cloudy blue eyes, he pushed the door open fully, if not a bit restrained.

He walked up to the desk making no sound at all, but the sound of the door closing behind him alerted the officer to the visitors presence. Without missing a beat, and without looking up from his computer, the officer spoke, "Good morning citizen, how may I help you today?" The officer spoke with calm courtesy, but with no compassion. Clearly having to go through the same motions day in and day out left this officer broken.

"I have come to see an old friend," Li replied in a cold, fearful tone. "I'm not sure he will want to see me though."

The officer's eyes widened as he recognised the voice and understood the meaning. "Li..?" he said, eyes still not moving from the screen, but not seeing anything either. "I haven't seen you... in almo... exactly a year."

"You haven't seen me at all yet, Jun." Li teased, trying to break the awkwardness with a very out of character joke.

The officer, whose badge stated he was 'Officer Westtree', finally looked up at Li.

Li was cursing himself for even coming in, and was preparing to run out the door as soon as Jun started to berate him, however when Li looked up from his suddenly interesting feet, he noticed Jun's beaming smile.

Li was taken aback by the happiness emanating from Jun, and even told him so, "why are you so happy to see me?" Jun's smile changed from one of joy, to one of jovial spirit, and he wheeled around the desk and spun at Li's legs. Jun beckoned Li to bend down to his own height, about a metre off the floor.

Li cautiously knelt down, still expecting some assault or trick, when suddenly Jun's arms crashed around him and brought Li into an embrace that he had not felt since being a young child in his father's shop. "Because I have missed you, and I am so glad to see you, Li!" beamed Jun, in response to Li's absurd question.

Li and Jun spent some time talking, never bringing up their history, but instead only joking with each other and talking about what they have been up to.

Li still being the way he was, never let too much slip out, and skirted over any personal questions, always trying to flip the question back onto Jun. They both knew that the other wasn't quite letting it all out, but they both knew the other couldn't let it out, and may never will.

Li had missed Jun more than he admitted; he had never found anyone he got along with so well, not for a long time at least. It was nearing 9:00, when Li and Jun noticed the time, both having places to be, they parted ways once more, but not for long, they knew they would be seeing more of each other.

Li made it back to class by 9:30, opting to jog back rather than saunter the way he had when leaving Beacon that morning.

He was late, and Oobleck chastised him for it, and he heard snickers and felt eyes on him, but as he often had, he ignored it all, but for the first time, simply let it all slide right off of him, rather than absorb it all.

He sat after issuing a formal apology in the form of his signature salute to Oobleck, and began listening intently, and copying down all the notes he had missed out on. It being Oobleck, there was a lot he was missing, however, staying a few extra minutes at the end, gave him the time to copy it all down.

The rest of the day went by in a haze, he listened and took notes in all his classes, but for once, he felt something else as well, pride? No. Happiness? No. whatever it was, Li relished the real emotion, and let it wash over him.

He ended his classes and headed off to sit on his favoured bay window.

Today he looked out over the city and instead of feeling empty; He felt something... else. He still did not know what it was, but he knew it was something. It was new, and exciting.

It was late afternoon when he had gotten to the bay window, and since then, he had heard the ceremony for all the new teams being created. He couldn't hear names or any words, but he heard cheers, laughs and a soft hum of the small talk as the courtyard had emptied. He wondered if anyone had a similar experience to him, when he was assigned teams. He doubted it. There were no sullen sounds, or solemn claps, it seemed to be a positive ceremony. He envied that, but he felt glad no-one else would be feeling how he felt, at least for another year.

Another hour or so passed, and he heard a somewhat familiar rustle behind him. Li turned to see the Amber eyes staring at him again, but this time they were not fearful eyes, but curious.

"Hello there!" Li said casually, not realising that he had a smile smeared across his face.

"Hi..." the amber eyes replied cautiously.

Li patted the seat to beckon her over, and laid out the bay window rules, "This is a secret place. This is a quiet place. But most of all, this is NOT a private place. Not anymore. If you want to sit and enjoy silence, then join me. As long as you follow the rules, I won't bite!" Li was even surprised by his own forthcoming nature.

It must have worked, as the Amber eyes moved forwards, to reveal a tall slender woman. She was clad in black and white battle gear, and sported an adorable bow upon her head.

Li realised she must be a freshman, as only a freshman would still be wearing their combat gear in the school today. Li shuffled his legs into a crossed sit, back against the wall, and he turned trying to ignore the beautiful girl beside him, to follow his own rules.

She sat softly and pulled up her legs to her chest, looking out over the city. The two sat in silence for hours. Neither looked at the other, only the setting sun. The only interruption was Li taking out his scroll and snapping some more pictures for today. She noticed it, and seemed curious, but she did not forget the rules, and left it be.

Li decided he should be the first to leave; this freshman clearly needed some time alone to think, so he bid her a quiet goodbye, saluting and whispering, "You are welcome here anytime, but please don't tell too many people about it!"

The statement was more a plea than a demand. Li could not imagine losing his own personal quiet area so quickly in the semester. Li slowly walked back to his room, content, for the first time in a long time. He reached the room, and found it empty; he changed to his sleeping garb, long grey pyjama trousers, black beanie, and a deep navy long sleeve tee.

He found sleep easy tonight, and he dreamt again. He couldn't decide if that was a good or bad sign.


	3. The tables turn slowly

It had been a few days since he had seen Jun. It was Friday already and it was to be an eventful day. First class was combat training, and thankfully for Li, it was single combat, the only area of combat that he excelled in.

Li woke up slowly, eyes struggling to adjust to the light. He stood up, and noticed his teammates were all starting to stir; he decided to hurry into the bathroom, so that he could be ready before anyone got up.

He walked out of the bathroom minutes later, completely awake, and drying his hair, he quickly adorned his black beanie over his dark messy hair. He rested the towel back onto his bed and left it there.

He changed out of his sleeping attire, and quickly donned his combat gear. A deep black long sleeve tee was wrapped by a multitude of black cloth wraps, from his wrists up to his shoulders. He wore a boiled leather vest, with two sheathes worked onto the back for his weapons; the vest was a dyed black colour, with bright orange buckles highlighting some of the edges. He wore a deep orange scarf, the only injection of colour in his attire, other than the buckles on the vest. His trousers and shoes were plain black, and comfortable, simply chosen as they were the easiest clothing to move around in.

The final part of the ensemble was Li's weapons. Li reached under his bed, pulled out an oak box, with a small key lock on it, he drew a key out from his bedside table, and opened the box. Two daggers were laying in the box on a soft pillow; one curved almost 180 degrees around, making it a form of small hook/scythe; the other dagger was much straighter, still having some curve on it, but was straight enough, and sharp enough, so it would easily stab and slash any foe. He slid both daggers behind his back, into their respective sheathes, the hook blade, War, for his left hand, and the straight blade, Love, for his right hand.

He walked out of the room, quickly and silently, walking to the combat hall to get some practice before he would need to perform in front of his fellow students.

He got into the hall at 7:14, he checked his scroll, and noted that he had a little more than an hour and a half, before people would start to turn up.

Li was practicing against a mid-sized Ursa dummy, somersaulting, slashing, and slicing each and every side of the dummy in fluid and calculated motions. He moved like water, but struck with force. He calmed his aura while fighting. He never once used his semblance, as it was often pointless, even against a real enemy, his semblance was rarely useful mid combat.

Li wondered whether he would be able to use it today against his opponent, he quickly moved on, and started speculating who he may have to face today.

He was clearly caught up in his own daydreaming because he didn't notice the girl in red and black staring at him just ten yards away. Li kicked himself for not noticing this girl waltz in earlier, but he was not in a combat situation, there was no reason he had needed to be switched on, and so he let himself off with a warning.

He stopped his onslaught, not even realising that he had still been slashing at the, now straw leaking, Ursa dummy all this time.

When he landed, he turned to look at the young girl staring at him. She said nothing, only staring at him with a curious grin. He was confused; normally others would always initiate the conversation. This girl made him feel very awkward, her silver sparkling eyes following his hands as they sheathed Love and War.

Li saluted, "Greetings" he started, "I am Li. Who are you? And what are you doing here so early?"

"I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't realise this was a private room! I'm really sorry, I will go now! I'm sorry" she responded hastily and fearfully.

As she was turning around to leave, Li piped up, "It's not! I'm sorry if I confused you. I am just not use to seeing people here so early, you are allowed here if you would like; it is a public practice area." The girl turned back and blushed, clearly embarrassed by her actions.

She awkwardly shot up a hand for a handshake, "Hello Li, my name is Ruby! Are you a first year too?" she enquired excitedly.

"I am a second year, how have you enjoyed yourself this first week of Beacon then?" Li responded politely, small talk was not a strong area for him.

"I... have been better! The first few days were pretty nerve-wracking, but I think it has all started looking up! How about you? How is it coming back after break? I really like your weapons! Do they have names? Do they do anything special?" Ruby asked so quickly, Li could barely follow.

"Are you sure you are okay? You don't seem to be taking many breaths?" Li asked concerned over the very young silver haired girl panting in front of him.

"Sorry. I am just nervous. Meeting new people isn't exactly my forté." Ruby seemed to relax her shoulders, grabbing her arm with her other arm and kicking the air away nervously.

"That's okay Ruby, many people find it difficult, trust me. These weapons?" Li pulls out Love and War. "This is love, and this is war." He gestured to each dagger in turn. "They can do something pretty cool, wanna see?" Ruby grinned and shook her head so violently it seemed to Li like it may rip off.

Li took a step back, placed the blunt ends of each dagger together and twisted. There was a mechanical click, and the daggers locked together, Li pulled the daggers apart, creating a long staff, with a hook blade on one end and a sharp blade on the other. Ruby's eyes widened with every click and whir of mechanics. Li could tell how much she enjoyed it, and decided to show her one final thing. Li pointed the hook end across the room towards a beowolf dummy, and clicked a small button on the side of the staff, causing the hook to launch, with great speed, at the beowolf. The hook, embedded inside the dummy, and with a flick of the wrist Li brought the dummy sailing towards himself, and with little effort, sidestepped and slashed at the air. A moment later he heard two very clear thuds behind him, where the two parts of the dummy had fallen.

He looked at Ruby and said, "Your turn." While gesturing to the curious device resting on the silver eyed girls lower back.

Li watched as the young girl spun and unsheathed the red and black mechanism and slammed the point of a scythe into the ground; Li's eyes gaped as he saw the small formed girl wielding an enormous scythe. "Wow!" Li gasped! "That is beautiful! Who made it? I would love to meet the forger!" Li had always had a soft spot for weapons, but he had never seen such a magnificent scythe, especially not one wielded so professionally by such a small girl.

Ruby giggled, "I made it! All the signal students forged their own weapons. Did you make your weapons?"

"Not exactly, I helped… I designed them, and helped forge, but my Dad made them for me when I got accepted into Sanctum. He made sure they would last forever, so that I would never be left without them." Li caught himself, stopped at that, changing his face to stone, hoping Ruby did not notice the grimace of pain that had flashed across his face.

"That's cool; I haven't even showed you the best bit yet!" Ruby beamed excitedly. She picked up her scythe, crouched slightly, and fired off behind herself. Li had not been expecting any shots to be fired, and he certainly didn't expect the slender girl to fly off towards the Ursa Major dummy on the other side of the room. Li barely had time to turn his head before he saw the girl standing behind the Ursa Major; moments later, the dummy fell in two.

_'__She didn't even take a second to plan, she is incredible,' _Li mused. "How did you do that?" Li shouted across the expansive hall. A few shots replied, and the young girl landed in front of him once again.

"My semblance is speed, and the sniper on this scythe is pretty powerful!" Ruby bragged confidently.

Li noticed some more students entering, obviously coaxed by the sounds of combat, he could tell it was his class, "My class is arriving, Goodwitch probably wouldn't want a freshman skipping class to watch us, sorry!" Li explained to Ruby.

"Oh no, what's the time!? I'm going to be late, bye Li, see you round!" Ruby squeaked frantically before running out of the hall.

"Goodbye, Ruby." Li spoke quietly, quite sure that the silver eyed girl was too far away to hear anything.

The class began with a short talk by Glynda Goodwitch about the positives of teamwork, but also that individual abilities were needed to become a great huntsman or huntress.

Li and the others had all heard it before, they knew what it all meant, and they all knew what they needed to do.

Goodwitch spotted Li and nodded at him, indicating it was time to take the stage. His classmates moaned when they saw Li move, knowing just how Li fought made them all a bit tired of watching him.

Li excelled at single combat, but his classmates considered his fighting style as cheap and dishonourable. Li however never saw it like that, Li had an objective, and Li would complete his objective no matter what. This was how Li was brought up, and why he could never be a leader, he could follow orders, but he never knew how to give them.

Li was not allowed to use Love and War against other students, a few too many cuts and slashes had occurred before, so Li had made a simple staff with two detachable batons, to emulate his favourite weapon combination.

Li was walking around to the side of the combat stage, and made his way up behind and to the left of Goodwitch and took up his saluting stance; Li liked Goodwitch, he knew she respected him and that is all he ever wanted from anyone.

He stood, unmoving, listening to Goodwitch explain the reason for the combat exercise today. "Being prepared for anything, and having an ability to adapt to any situation is required to become a huntsman or huntress. Today, Li, here," Goodwitch gestured towards Li, "will go up against a foe he had not expected." This gave Li pause because he had not expected to be the one being tested; normally he was the test for others. "Li will be fighting the rest of his team, team PLYM. Peter, Yu and Michelle, please come up on the combat stage," Li's eyes widened, this was most irregular, sparring was one thing, but teammate fighting teammate in a combat exercise was unheard of, "furthermore, Li will not be allowed to use his semblance, whereas his teammates will be allowed both their regular weapons and any tactics that they choose to use."

The class all cheered, anticipating the forthcoming beating they were sure Li will be receiving. Li physically gasped, taken aback by this blindside by Goodwitch, she had seemed to always be on his side, helping him when he was down, and giving advice when he needed it most. Instead she now seemed to be feeding him to the wolves to sate their bloodlust, Li just couldn't understand what was happening.

Li saw his teammates gathering on the other side of the stage, talking in a team huddle, the irony not lost him.

Goodwitch sauntered over to Li, who was still in salute, although clearly distressed, he never could stop himself from being respectful. Goodwitch handed him a small device on a wristband, "this will block your semblance, making sure you cannot go against the combat guidelines I have set."

Li took the device silently, slipping it up to his bicep, simply asking "Why?"

Goodwitch looked Li in his deep brown eyes, brown met emerald, and she said flatly, "For your own good." Li didn't understand, but saluted her, walked to his side of the stage, and stood, waiting.

He saw his teammates take their positions, and saluted them. He was met with two smiles and a grunt. Knowing there would not be any restraint form any of them, Li prepared for a tough bout.

Li calmed his breathing, closing his eyes and took in five deep breaths. He opened his eyes and took up his fighting stance. Batons in each hand, he crouched low, one arm behind his back, and one in front. He held his weapons parallel to his forearms, a defensive stance.

He knew this would be a defence orientated battle for him, without his semblance, he would struggle to initiate an attack effectively.

Goodwitch sounded a bell, signalling the start of the battle. Silence. Nothing but silence. The larger part of team PLYM held their ground, pausing. Li was puzzled, this was out of character for them. Li knew how his team fought, and prepared for a very offensive assault.

They stood unmoving. Li edged forwards. Slowly, he stepped towards team PLYM, noting each expression, analysing the scene in front of him. He saw Yu's eyes flick towards her sister, and took the opportunity to charge at Michelle. Li knew that the twins defended each other, not themselves. Li closed the 20 yards to Michelle in a few seconds; too long.

Using his right arm in a horizontal slash across her stomach, he connected, but the slash only glanced across as Michelle leapt backwards, Li knew his side was now exposed to Peter, and sidestepped in anticipation.

Peter however had chosen to reposition behind Li instead, and Yu had crossed over to Li's right, surrounding him. No attack came, still they toyed with him. Li had his back facing a wall, and three teammates on each side of him.

Yu in front with Peter and Michelle to each side. Li looked to Michelle to see if his contact had done anything, it hadn't. During his momentary distraction Peter charged, his cudgel connecting into Li's side, knocking him down.

Li rolled onto his feet, and spun to charge the attacker, quickly he leapt at Peter, instinctively he attempted to use his semblance but instead of calling on his power, he felt a harsh jolt of pain shoot through his right arm, he stumbled, and ran into the shield blocking his attack, knocking him down once more.

He got up slowly this time. Reeling from the pain in his arm and shoulder, where the shield had connected. Li looked around once again, trying to see any gap in their defensive tactics. He remembered the small silver eyed girl from earlier, and decided that if his team had adapted to defeat him, he will adapt to give them a surprise.

He charged from his crouched position, aiming towards Michelle again, hoping she remembered his previous attack. She did, and tried to sidestep out of the direction of the incoming swing. This was exactly what Li had hoped for, he continued sprinting to the other end of the stage, and once he reached the end he turned, quickly noting his enemies' positions. They were trying to organise themselves into a staggered triangle, hoping to trap Li once again in the middle.

He aimed both batons behind him, firing two rounds out of the sawed off shotguns built into them, aiming himself toward Peter. He coupled this momentum with a sprint, and at the last minute shot both batons once again, this time, aiming himself towards a confused looking Yu.

Yu had not dealt with Li yet, and none were expecting this sudden burst of speed. The gap between the enemies was closed in half a second; Li slashed both batons, across Yu, from right to left, firing to increase the momentum of the slash, and then firing once again once the slash was complete to knock her back. The slashes and shots all connected, knocking Yu 20 yards back and knocking her out.

Li fired toward Peter, rocketing himself backwards and away from the encroaching enemies, the shots bounced off of Peters shield as he brought it up to deflect the projectiles. Li took the break in combat to check on his own aura, it was below 50%. This worried Li, normally this long after a direct hit, he would have recovered more aura, Li was not worried though, and he put the thought aside to survey the combat stage.

He saw Peter standing in front of Yu while Michelle tried to tend to her. Li needed to interrupt them, as disrespectful as it might be; if she could get Yu back up, then Li will lose his advantage. He saw Peters focus drift for a second and leapt forward, using his new tactic to close the 30 yards in an instant. Li was not even close to matching the speed of the silver eyed girl, but it was more speed than anyone had ever seen Li move.

Peter had time to focus back on the charging opponent and held his shield high to protect his centre of mass. Li saw this, and knew that Peter often forgot to keep his eyes on the attacker when blocking, choosing instead to block his head too. This force of habit came from fighting Grimm, they were not smart enough to attack around a shield, but Li was. At the last moment, Li slid to the side of Peter, dragging his left hand behind him in a hooked manner. He looked up, and saw Peters face as he slid past, noting the surprise on his face. He hooked around Peters leg, and before the leg could move, Li fired the shotgun sending the baton sweeping under his leg. Peter spun in the air landing hard on his front; before Peter even landed, Li had spun and stood, striking downwards towards Michelle's exposed shoulder.

Michelle had not noticed Li get past Peter until it was too late, going down hard beside her sister, the blow however was not enough to take her out of the fight, and she quickly rolled away and spun to her feet. Peter and Michelle regrouped together trying to organise and plan out what to do next, based on their next move, Li realised that they chose to go on the attack.

They charged, Peter swinging the cudgel high, and Michelle attacking at his legs with her fans. Li was ready for this. This was what he had expected and prepared for, taking some steps back avoiding a number of slashes and swipes, he gave himself a moment. During this he leapt forward, splitting up his enemies, before quickly turning and somersaulting to bring Michelle in between himself and Peter. Li had quickly turned the tables from a 2 on 1, to a 1 on 1. Li gave them no time to re-adjust positions and pressed his attack on Michelle, swiping and blocking a number of fan attacks.

Michelle was fast though, and some swipes got past his blocks and left some cuts and gashes across his face and chest. Li felt the pain shoot across his body, but ignored it, and continued his assault. He had noticed Peter sneaking around to his back, but decided that he needed to wear down one before he could think about succeeding in this mission.

He caught Michelle in the side, causing her to falter, and took the opportunity to sweep the legs out from her, and take her out of the fight. Li started to go for the finishing slash, as Michelle was floating in the air, but before he could connect, he remembered Peter. It was too late. Li turned to see the cudgel flying towards his head, trying to dodge he jumped hoping to direct the blow to his side, rather than his head. It worked, but the blow struck the device on Li's bicep. Li went careening to the left, sliding on the floor.

Li did not move. He could not get up. Li lay there, convulsing. The device on his arm short circuiting, shooting pangs of pain throughout his entire body, Li's heart pounded, so hard that it felt like it was going to burst out of his chest. A buzzer sounded, the match was over. Goodwitch ran to Li's side, ripping off the device, and cradling Li in her arms. Li stopped convulsing, but the pain lingered in him. His eyes pulsed in his skull, he wished for some form of relief, it didn't come. Li could here yelling, he wasn't sure what was said, but moments later he saw white clothing, and red crosses. Li felt a stick in his arm, and then nothing. Li had lost the battle. He had failed.


	4. Let it all hang out

Li woke up slowly. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed the pristine light room he was situated in.

As he slowly regained composure he noticed the beeping near his head, and turned to see a drip and a heart rate monitor. Li looked around; trying to find something he recognised to put his mind at ease. His eyes locked onto the chair in the opposite corner, where all his clothes were piled up. He tried to reach over to the chair, but the drip pulled him back with a wince of pain, the monitor picked up the tempo at the same time.

Moments later a girl with brown rabbit ears, long silky brown hair and a concerned look on her face entered hurriedly. The faunus girl held her hands over Li's right arm, soothing the pain, "you shouldn't try and move, you've been through a lot, and you need a lot of rest!" she said calmly.

"But I need my hat, people will see!" Li spoke in a fearful tone. The nurse stared at the hat confused for a moment, and then it dawned on her.

"You don't NEED to hide Li," she moved to the chair and picked up the black beanie, "some of us choose to embrace who we are, regardless of what others may think." She walked up to Li, running her soft hands through his messy brown hair, stopping at the black tipped orange fox ears. She rubbed them softly, enjoying the feeling of the furry ears.

Li relaxed when she touched his ears, not realising how much he missed the sensation. He heard the door open, and snapped the beanie from the nurse, slipping it on, and refusing to look her in the eyes.

A tall man, with silver hair, brown eyes and a cane, came around the corner and into the bright room. Ozpin, Li knew immediately. "Could you give us a minute?" Ozpin gestured to the nurse.

"Of course," the nurse headed out, turning back before reaching the door "my names Velvet by the way." And with that Li thought he had pushed another person away.

"How long have I been here?" Li asked.

Ozpin took a sip of his mug, "Just over five weeks, young man. It is Monday, 38 days since your combat test." Li said nothing, wrapping his head around it all.

"It wasn't a test, just a demonstration." Li corrected.

"Oh?"

"Yes, it was a demonstration to show how to properly adjust to unbeknownst situations."

"I don't remember it like that." Ozpin sat down in the chair, sipping at his mug.

Li sat up a bit, winced, and then shot Ozpin a quizzical stare. "I have had some complaints and requests in regards to your place at this school." Ozpin sighed inwardly. "Your teammates have requested a new member; one who they believe will be more of a team player."

Li's eyes widened, "But..but.. they wer.. what abou.. when?"

"During the summer break your leader contacted me, mentioning how you hadn't even attempted to be with your team during the break, and that you actively avoided it." Ozpin explained.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't need to, it wasn't class time, there was no team based work to complete!" Li pleaded, only able to watch as his dream of becoming a huntsman crumbled.

"This is true Mr. Kage, but while it may not be part of the curriculum, it is part of being a team. You don't seem to work well with others."

"But we still were a good team, Peter utilised each of us effectively, just because we aren't friends doesn't mean we aren't a good combat team!"

"But you aren't really a team. Peter followed the rules because he felt he needed to, but he wants what is best for all his team. That means being the best they can be, and you are not the right person for team PLYM."

"So is that why you had them beat me up? To teach me a lesson? To give them the satisfaction of finally hurting me? To make everyone else happy? Why do this to me if you were going to expel me anyway?" Li spat, venom in the words.

Ozpin sat silently for a moment, "Who said I was going to expel you?"

"You said that everyone was requesting you kick me out?" Li pondered the possible outcomes of this conversation, maybe he could be a farmer? Or a forger? Maybe join Jun in the police department! Although he didn't believe he would be a very approachable policeman.

"Many of your peers have requested it, but they do not run this school. You made it into this school because you have the desire to become a huntsman, and you stayed because you had the determination and the skills. You have made it this far on your own. So why couldn't you continue?" Li, still considering his other options, didn't quite pick up what Ozpin was saying. "Mr. Kage, I planned out your battle to show off your personal skills to your peers and myself. It was a test. To find out how well you could work on your own. You passed… with flying colours."

"But I lost, I ended up in a hospital bed, they won! Peter knocked me down over and over, and I could not beat them all." Li didn't know what he was saying; he didn't know why he was arguing. But he had failed; he couldn't allow Ozpin to reward him for failing.

"You were forced into a situation you had never expected to be in. Having to fight your own team. Not being able to use your semblance... or recharge aura, which we noticed later. You were forced into a role you are not used to. Your team did not plan to be defensive, I had them working with Ms. Goodwitch to make their strategy near perfect. Yet you adapted, learnt, and if it weren't for an unfortunate hit, I am told you would have certainly won the match."

Li looked to his lap shyly, not believing the praise. "But I lost, and no-one will be on a team with me. There is nothing for me here." Li whined.

"I do believe that is for me to decide, and I do not see you in that way. You are an incredibly strong individual, you are determined and you are respectful. These traits make you a strong warrior, and with the right training and guidance, you could become a great huntsman."

Li sat alone in the bright room contemplating what he had just been told. He was to be the first individual huntsman at Beacon in its history.

It had been a few hours since Ozpin had left the room and Velvet entered the room once again, obviously to check on Li's vitals.

When Li noticed who it was, he slid his beanie off, looked to his lap and said, "I'm sorry about earlier, I'm just not ready. I've been hated by my peers when they thought me human, I couldn't imagine what they might do if they found out what I am."

Velvet knew how Li felt, she had been through a lot for just being faunus, but she was happy with herself, and that was all that mattered. "I understand, "she whispered, "It is hard for us all, but you must understand, that WHAT you are… is beautiful. It doesn't matter what others think." Li blushed, no-one had ever called him beautiful, but then again no-one knew what he really was.

"Thank you… for everything! Especially for taking care of me, although you don't seem old enough to be the nurse?"

Velvet giggled, "I'm not the nurse, but I was training with her when you had been brought in. When I saw how you looked, I felt obligated to help you, and I decided to be there for you when you woke up."

Li could barely look her in the deep brown eyes. "Thank you so much, I wish I could have woken up sooner." Li felt a hand grab his, and another slide through his hair to his ear. His eyes closed, and he finally relaxed himself, almost drifting off to sleep.

Before he fell unconscious, he asked "When can I leave the room?" Velvet seemed taken aback by the question, clearly taking it personally. "I have missed my spot for too long."

Velvet seemed confused, but continued holding Li's hand, "You can leave in about a week, depending on what the nurse says."

Li sighed, "Can you sneak me out for an hour or so? It's not far!" Velvet checked her tablet for the time. 17:48. she had nothing else to do today.

"I can try, only if you promise to come back when I say, and you can't leave my side!" Velvet blushed as she realised she was turning this into a date! She started unplugging Li from the machines, and gestured him towards his clothes, but not before swiping his hat and keeping it close to her chest. Velvet walked out, sticking her tongue out as she left with his hat.

Li rose slowly, grabbing his clothing, and sliding it on through winces of pain. He stood there waiting for Velvet to return.

Once she came back, she had a big smile on her face. "Come on then! You have to show me this special spot soon! We've only got an hour!" Li smiled, twitching his ears for the first time in a long time. He started out the room, wincing once or twice. Velvet noticed this and propped him up on her shoulder, "You really are stubborn, aren't you?"

Li laughed weakly, "I guess I am! It's just passed the library, and up some stairs."

It took almost thirty minutes to make it to the bay window. Velvet and Li sat down together, Velvet in Li's arms.

Velvet was normally so shy, but something about Li gave her an overwhelming sense of safety, one she had never felt before. She didn't know if it was because he was older or if it was that he was faunus, but she knew he was strong, she had used her aura to help him heal. The feeling she got from his aura was scary, and full of fear, but something about it connected with her, and made her feel safe.

Li didn't realise he could feel as close to anyone, let alone a girl he had met only hours before, but something inside him gravitated to her. He was connected to her somehow, something just felt right when she was close; he was happy.

They looked out over the city, saying nothing. It had been a few hours, Velvet knew they had been gone too long, but she couldn't bring herself to move. They both heard movement from behind them, and turned to see amber eyes. The eyes flicked to Li's ears and looked puzzled, Li nodded and pointed his eyes to the open side of the window.

The girl in black understood and moved forward, sitting and smiling at the two faunus cuddling in front of her. The newcomer and Velvet shared a look, Velvet clearly confused by the situation, as she thought it was a date, but the girl in black only smiled obliviously.

A few minutes passed before the girl in black broke the sweet silence, "I haven't seen you here for a while; you missed some great pictures." Li smiled, but looked over to her, got her attention and put his finger to his lips.

He knew it was rude, but she knew the rules of the bay window. They continued to sit in silence for another half an hour, until Velvet noticed the time and told Li that they needed to go back to the medical wing.

The girl in black looked at Li with a concerned look. "It was just a little coma, nothing to break the rules over. The names Li by the way."

"Blake." She responded. They smiled at each other before Li went to Velvets arms to be helped back to his bed.

During the journey back, Li was bombarded by questions from Velvet, who was clearly jealous of Blake. Every question was met with a giggle and a stare from Li, who had already explained the situation to Velvet three times. Li thought it was adorable that Velvet was jealous, and once they made it back to his medical bed, told her so, "It is adorable how jealous you are!"

Velvet blushed and pulled away, causing Li to falter, quickly bring her back to his side. Li looked into her eyes, the deep brown eyes so full of joy. He leant in to kiss her. Velvet had never kissed a guy before but when she saw Li leaning forward; she didn't have any time to think before instinctively meeting him half way.

They locked lips, each savouring each other's soft lips for what felt like hours, before parting. They stared at each other.

Slowly Li walked to his bed, picking up his gown and slipping off his clothing behind the curtain. He came back around the curtain, put his clothing down on the seat and asked "Would you like to stay the night, with me?" Even if he could have moved without wincing Li never meant for anything lewd to be implied, he had simply never spent the night with someone else next to him.

Li realised how crude it sounded only too late, but before he could explain himself, Velvet had disrobed down to her shirt and smallclothes. She nodded and moved to the bed, grabbing Li's hand as she went.

Velvet had not even realised that what Li had said could have been crude, she was too naïve and too excited about spending a night with her fox. They lay in bed, facing each other, wrapped in each other's arms. Li and Velvet fell asleep slowly, neither one wanting to leave the conscious world. Li dreamt that night, but it was a different dream to normal.


	5. The Void

Li looked around. The familiar white expanse lay out before him. The pure white surrounding was only interrupted by small clouds of black smoke.

He looked down to his body, but nothing was there. No legs, no arms, nothing.

He spun, expecting to see the most familiar part; the maelstrom of black smoke, interweaving, inter-locking, ever daunting and ever-present. What he saw shocked him. It was still a large maelstrom of black smoke, but there was a white smoke too. The two colours never mixed, but they swirled and weaved never-ending.

He noticed the smaller black cloud to the side; he felt himself pull towards the smoke. Li moved his non-hand inside the smoke and he felt fearful, he became doubtful, and there was all manner of pain. Li quickly pulled away from the smoke, noticing a sudden surge in the maelstrom, which quickly dissipated.

Li looked again at the smaller black cloud but a swirl of white caught his attention, it came from behind the black cloud.

He slowly moved over to it, and noticed the incredible size of the cloud in comparison to the black cloud. It was not as large as the maelstrom, but was about the size of an exercise ball, in comparison to the baseball of black cloud.

Li instinctively leant into the cloud; he was instantly blasted by love, joy, hope, and everything else good in the world. He had never experienced so much pure emotion before, and Li jolted back, panting. Li whispered to the cloud, "Thank you." He didn't know exactly what he was thanking the cloud for, but he knew he meant it. The cloud seemed to pulse at the whisper.

Li looked back at the maelstrom, still trying to decipher what it was.

He stayed pondering it for hours, until something far beyond in the white expanse caught his eye. A great black swirl, flaring and fighting with itself off in the distance.

Li drifted towards it, stopping yards away to inspect the situation. He saw a white cloud, paling in comparison to the black void, feeding smoke into the swirl. The smoke funnel was a gradient of grey, Li had seen it often enough. He slipped his hand into the funnel feeling exactly what he expected, pride. He went to the black swirl, and felt the pride mixing with doubt, fear and pity. Pity was odd to feel here, but he understood it. He went to the white ball, but before he could check it he noticed something. A white funnel leading into the cloud, he followed it back a few yards to a white cloud almost equal in size to the swirl he had originally seen.

Next to the larger white cloud was a small black cloud. He felt the white funnel, feeling love, confidence and more pride. Pride was the cause of this imbalance, why would the white cloud feed more into the equation? Li pondered for a while, until he noticed something interesting happen, the large white cloud moved over, shortening the distance of the funnel, he heard whispers, but couldn't make them out. Then he noticed the large white cloud merge slightly with the smaller. The black funnel closed, and the swirling calmed, but not diminishing.

Li had rarely seen two clouds so close, and had never seen one cloud affect another so positively. Li remembered back and realised that he had only ever seen the black smoke before. These white clouds were new, he had no idea how they work, but they were working, all over he started to notice groups and pairs of white and black clouds all feeding each other and working together, there was balance where there was none before.

He left the area, and moved back towards the maelstrom, there he stayed, watching. Although Li did not watch the maelstrom, instead he watched the other clouds next to it. He felt calmed by these balls, and noticed how the maelstrom seemed to be working with the clouds too, not as much as the others he had seen, but just slightly, he could see small exchanges. Everything had changed for Li.

Li woke up slowly. As he always did. The first thing he saw was two brown bunny ears. He smiled and gave the ears a gentle kiss.

He looked to his hands, noticing something out the corner of his eye, there was black smoke falling off his left hand, and a pure white cloud dissipating off his right. His inspection was interrupted by the entrance of the nurse. She tsked loudly, and quickly walked back out the room.

Li felt bad, but nestled his head back to see the beautiful face beside him. He whispered, "Velvet! Velvet its morning, we need to wake up, the nurse is here! She is a little mad!" Brown eyes slowly opened to stare back into brown eyes. "It's Tuesday, classes will start soon, and I don't want you in trouble because of me!"

"My first class is here, I have time" Li laughed, kissed her forehead, and made to leave. Velvet felt the warmth leaving her and she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close and not letting go.

"Velvet, your teacher has already walked in on us, we can't keep her waiting!"

"WHAT? She walked in? Did she see me?" Velvet panicked, quickly running to the bathroom with her clothes.

"Is it so bad? She just tsked and left. I think she understood."

"Did she know it was me? You're a patient! It wouldn't be very professional!" replied a muffled voice.

"Well, you do have beautiful big rabbit ears; it's a bit hard to miss!"

Velvet came back out of the bathroom, stood above Li. "It won't be hard to miss your head if I chose to smack you!" she said sternly. Even though he had just been threatened, Li couldn't help but smile at the beautiful faunus girl standing above him; he got up to his knees, cupped her face in his hand and pulled her in for a long kiss.

"That's to last you the day!" Li smiled, kissed velvets nose and lay back down.

"Well, I may come back for a refreshed one later in the day. If I feel like it wore off." Velvet smiled, and winked at Li as she left the room. Li lay there, lost in his thoughts until the older nurse came back in. "You clearly had a good night." She joked.

"The best of my life!" Li replied.

Li had drifted off for a few hours, his morning routine had drained his aura more than it should have.

Li woke up to the sound of his scroll beeping. He groggily leant over and picked it up. Six messages. He flicked through them all, noting who had sent them. Five from Jun and one from Ruby.

Li hadn't even thought about anything else but Velvet since waking up. He decided he needed to reply to Jun, considering he was clearly worried. _"Hey Jun, sorry I haven't replied sooner, I've been a bit indisposed! I'd love to meet up again, but I'm not exactly allowed out, do you have any time off to come visit me?" _Li wrote.

Li then opened up the message from Ruby, dated about a week ago. _"Hey Li, it was cool meeting you, I haven't seen you around! I'd love to do some combat practice with you sometime!" _Li read. Li decided not to reply, but instead he decided to thank her in person.

He lay back down, but as he was slipping away again, he felt the scroll on his lap vibrate. He looked at it, seeing that Jun had replied. _"Hey, Li! Indisposed? What the hell do you mean? I'm off today, where are you?" _Li felt bad for worrying Jun, but he tapped in his location within Beacon, and half expected Jun to burst through the door as he hit send.

It was however a few hours before Jun arrived, giving Li time to tell the nurse that he had a visitor coming. Jun rolled in, with a clearly worried expression on his face.

"Hey there!" Li beamed, ignoring the concerned looks.

"What the hell happened to you, you muppet?"

"Nice to see you too!" Li quipped sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah; it's great to see you too, but seriously what happened to you? You look like an almost empty toothpaste tube!" Li couldn't help but laugh at that; he sat up, trying to look a little less helpless.

"I had a combat test go wrong; I've been out for like 5 weeks! I'm recovering well though, the nurse here is amazing!" Li smiled, relishing the memory of Velvet.

"Well, I'm glad you're doing better! Next question; what are those on your head?" Li's smile quickly vanished as he remembered that Velvet had stolen his beanie and kept it from him since.

His hands quickly darted up to his head to try and cover up his ears, hoping that somehow Jun had short term memory loss. Jun doesn't.

Jun laughed and looked into Li's eyes, "So that's how you always heard me coming. You sneaky bugger! Aha! I finally understand your colours!"

Li was still use to having his ears on display, still being so fearful of what others thought of him. Jun's response was great though, he had always feared Jun not accepting him but he did, and it was enough to make Li not worry about his ears. Jun and Velvet were the only people he cared about, and neither one hated him for being a faunus.

"Why did you hide that all this time?" Jun asked, with an irritated tone, "You could have trusted me?"

Li looked to his lap, feeling bad, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't trust anyone. My mum told me that people would see me as the freak I was, and that they would think her 'unclean'. I needed to hide, for the good of the family."

Jun nodded, understanding the relationship Li and his mother had. "I get it, but you are an adult now, a huntsman in training, you can be whoever you want, your mother doesn't own you."

Li nodded, finally feeling free and independent. Jun skirted around anymore questions about Li's mother, knowing that he wouldn't get an answer anyway. It was a few minutes of silence until Li asked, "So why are you still in the wheelchair?"

Jun looked bewildered, "Because my legs were broken in 8 places. Have you forgotten that?"

"Exactly, they WERE broken; they should have healed by now, surely?"

Jun was getting visually angry, "No, they were broken, and I lost my chance. It's over Li, just leave it."

Li was not convinced, nor deterred. "There is a place on a team here at Beacon, they need a support, ranged huntsman, and it's never too late!" Jun fidgeted in his chair, the anger dissipating, and sadness creeping in.

"It is too late for some of us, Li." Jun, wheeled out and headed for the door, "I'm glad you are recovering Li, I will see you around!"

Li knew he should have felt guilty, but he didn't, "I'm glad you have recovered too, Jun! I will be seeing you sooner than you think." Li lay back, smiling, his ears twitching.

A few hours later he heard the door open, and he looked up. His heart started pounding, his cheeks became sore and he held out his hand.

Velvet reached out grabbed his hand and smiled; he pulled her into his arms, lying in the bed, they were both happy. Li mentioned about his friend Jun, told her all about him. Velvet told him about her day, what she did, what she struggled with, and Li gave her some help where he could.

Li mentioned if Velvet knew a girl called Ruby; after getting jealous and then calmed again, Velvet explained who she was. Li asked her if she could help him meet with Ruby, to thank her. Velvet agreed, although was reluctant.

Li looked into her eyes once again, savouring every second. He kissed her button nose and laughed again, but was silenced when she drew him into a deep kiss, for the first time, they explored each other's mouths. They parted, smiling and settled back down for another night in each other's arms. Li opened his eyes to see the white expanse, he was happy to be back there.


	6. First Encounters

Li woke up slowly. He looked to his side, but saw nothing. He looked to his hands, and saw clouds dissipating at his knuckles.

He reached for his scroll once the clouds faded, to check the time. 13:26. Li no longer felt bad when he noticed how long he had been asleep, it was Wednesday, and Velvet had classes.

Li noticed the message blinking on his scroll, _"Good morning, or afternoon, depending on when you read this! Sorry I left without saying goodbye this morning, but I had class and you looked so cute I couldn't bring myself to wake you up! I will see you tonight! –Velvet"_

Li smiled upon reading the message, and replied to it, _"Its afternoon! That's okay; I can't wait to see you!" _

Li looked at his surroundings, getting bored by it already, Li decided to message Professor Ozpin, _"Good afternoon sir, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something, in person? I can come to your office sometime today. – Li Kage." _Li realised he sent the message before being sure what he should say to Ozpin.

It took roughly an hour until Ozpin replied; giving Li the time he needed to plan out a speech. Li opened the message, _"Good afternoon Mr. Kage, I am free within the hour, however I have been led to believe you are still under observation in the medical wing. I will drop by at exactly 14:30. – Professor Ozpin."_

Sure enough as the clock struck 14:30, Ozpin entered the room, with Goodwitch in tow. Ozpin noticed Li's ears, "Ah, I see you finally decided to let your ears breathe, they look very grateful for it."

Li's hand shot up instinctively, but he caught himself, and instead of hiding the ears he rubbed one lightly. Goodwitch looked at his ears, with a surprised look on her face, but she quickly composed herself, nodding at Li and smiling.

"Miss Goodwitch, I am sorry I doubted you." Li started.

"It is okay Mr. Kage; I wish I hadn't needed to keep you in the dark about it all." Goodwitch explained.

After the pleasantries were over with, Ozpin sat down in the chair next to Li's bed. "Why is it you have asked to talk to me today, Mr. Kage?"

"It is in regards to the space within team PLYM. I would like to recommend a replacement."

"Oh?"

"My original partner. He deserves a second chance, and it is my fault he needs it."

* * *

It was the first day of the school year. Li was finally starting his training to become a huntsman at the prestigious Beacon.

He walked off the airship, the beauty of Beacon mixed with what today meant to him, made him euphoric. He didn't know how to process the feelings he was having.

His beanie felt uncomfortable, he adjusted it, ignored the feeling, and kept walking towards the front gates. On his way there he noticed a lot of well forged weaponry, and felt like asking people about them, but he chose to keep to himself.

He saw out of the corner of his eye a bunch of people forming a crowd on the other side of the courtyard; he decided to investigate.

When he got to the group he noticed few larger boys picking on a smaller boy, calling him names, slapping his head. Li thought about doing something to help, but he knew he could do nothing helpful.

As he was turning to leave he heard a new voice enter the thrum, a strong and stern voice. "Hey! Stop picking on this kid. It is our first day, and you are going to pull this crap now?"

As Li turned back to inspect the new development, he noticed nothing, only the backs of people's heads. Li could barely make out a mop of brown/blonde hair in the centre of the crowd, which hadn't been there a moment ago.

Li heard gasps grunts, and as Li forced himself to the front of the crowd he saw why. The three large boys were crowded in a tight circle, pummelling something in the centre.

Li reacted instinctively; he reached for Love and War at his back, and activated his semblance. He disappeared in a puff of black smoke, shocking the people around him, and suddenly the legs of one of the boys pulled straight up, causing the boy to fall head first onto the concrete. Li popped back into vision, now standing behind the largest boy, War in his left hand, and a clenched fist. He hooked the boys left leg backwards, and punched at the knee outwards, breaking it cleanly. As the boy fell to his knees, Li spun behind him and smashed him in the temple. Li noticed that the third and final boy had back away from the body they had surrounded. Li locked eyes with the large boy, daring him to attack. As soon as the boy reached for his pole arm weapon, Li disappeared again. The opponent hadn't seen Li's semblance, and took a step back eyes darting about, looking for his enemy. Suddenly the boys' legs gave out from behind him, and there was a hooked blade at his throat. He could read the inscription across the blade, _"War does not decide who is right, only who is left." _Li whispered to his ear, "You will not hurt anyone else. Ever again. Got it?"

The large boy nodded, breathing heavily. Li pushed him forwards to the floor, and walked over to the young man on the floor. He turned the boy over; he noticed the boy's cloudy blue eyes and gave him a hand up. "Are you okay? You need a nurse?"

"No, I'm okay, my aura kicked in; they were tickling me as far as I can tell." Li laughed at the bravado in the young boy's voice.

"That explains why it was so easy to get them off you. Where is the kid they were picking on in the first place?" They both started off towards the front gates, pushing past the crowd and leaving the agitators to clean up the mess.

"I gave him an escape route when I started talking; I managed to distract them long enough for him to slip away. That's what got them so aggressive towards me! By the way, I'm Jun."

"Li! Good to meet you!" Li saluted, "I was glad someone stepped up, but that wasn't the smartest decision, you could've gotten hurt! They weren't violent before!"

"Just because they weren't violent, doesn't mean they couldn't have done any damage. Someone needed to step in, and no-one did." Li felt bad. He had thought it unnecessary to step in, he hadn't thought of any of that. The jab hurt Li personally.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry? You did get involved? Granted you didn't before, you still chose to intervene when it was smart. I don't blame you for that, but just know that it's not how well it goes that matters, it's the gesture that counts." Li smiled at that. He hadn't thought Jun would be a particularly wise person, but Li was impressed by the boy.

They walked into the main hall together, chatting and joking together. They showed off their weapons, Li's Love and War and Jun showed his magnum/blade, Clint. The handle made of rich mahogany, the blade and barrel made from polished chromatic steel. Li was impressed with the professional quality in Jun's weapon; it looked beautiful, and was quite powerful too.

Once they made it to an open space in the hall, they stopped talking, and looked at the stage. Professor Ozpin was standing there, waiting for the all the students to make it in. Li and Jun were talking to other students around them, making introductions, showing off weapons, explaining where they had all come from.

Li met a nice pair of twins, who used fan weapons and came from Vacuo. Jun met a boy named Peter, who used a mace and shield.

Once they heard Ozpin cough into the mic, they all stopped talking, Jun and Li made their way back to each other.

"Welcome students, you have come here to learn how to become warriors. The path to becoming a huntsman or huntress is not an easy one, and many of you may fail. I wish you luck, but be aware that the life you have chosen is not a simple one, and certainly not one with a happy ending."

He left the stage quickly, leaving Glynda Goodwitch to explain the day to day plans. "You will stay in the ballroom tonight, and tomorrow you will start your initiation."

Li and Jun looked at each other, "Ozpin seemed a bit moody, didn't he?" Jun pondered aloud. Li only shrugged.

Li and Jun made it to the ballroom, and set up beds close to each other, they talked about why they were each here, both simply wanting to help others in any way they could. Although Li had the additional reason of needing some freedom, however even Li didn't know that at the time.

Morning came and the students were in the lockers, most discussing and asking who wanted to form teams. Li and Jun knew that they would try to be partners, regardless of what other people asked or offered, and they didn't worry about the other partnership that they would be with.

The intercom buzzed on, and Goodwitch's voice rang out, "All first year students please report to Beacon Cliff immediately." Li and Jun locked eyes, shook hands and both exclaimed, "See you out there!"

It only took a few minutes to walk across the campus to Beacon Cliff, no-one talked though, everyone was preparing, mentally and physically for the forthcoming test.

All the students stood on platforms in a long line across the top of the cliff. "Today your skills will be tested and evaluated." Ozpin started.

"Your teams and partners will be decided today as well, and you will all work together for the next four years. The first person you make eye contact with on the ground will be your partner for the next four years." Goodwitch added.

"This is the emerald forest. At the northern side of this forest lies an abandoned temple; here you will find a number of relics, each pair will pick one and report back to the cliff. Throughout the day, you will be monitored, and at the end of the day, your teams announced, and grades given based on your performance." Ozpin still seemed out of touch. "There will be obstacles on your path, there will be no intervention from staff, the dangers are real, be careful."

Li and Jun locked eyes; Li nodded towards the largest tree ahead of them, and Jun silently understood. The platforms that the students were standing on started to fire people into the forest, one after the other. Li fired off before Jun, and after four or so others, Jun flew off the cliff.

Mid-flight Li connected Love and War at the bases, creating a staff, he then aimed the hook towards a tree off to his side, fired the harpoon into the tree, spinning around twice before releasing the hook. Having slowed his momentum, he quickly fired off the hook again as soon as it had reeled back, this time towards a branch overhead, causing him to swing forwards landing on a branch of the tree he had pointed out to Jun. He made his way to a low hanging branch with a couple bounds, and sat, waiting.

Jun appeared a minute later, walking to the base of the tree. He saw the lazing Li and decided to throw a rock at the unawares boy. The rock hit Li's leg, and startled him, he stood up unsheathing his weapons instinctively. Once he saw Jun laughing below, he sheathed his weapons and jumped down, "You're a jerk!"

They walked north silently, focussing on the task at hand, and keeping themselves prepared.

They had walked roughly a mile before they made it to a clearing, with no temple in site, they walked through the clearing quickly, hoping nothing saw them.

Li stopped, hearing something muffled, long before Jun had heard it. "Hold up. Prepare yourself."

They stood back to back, waiting. This was the first time they will fight together, and Li hoped that they would fight as well as they got on together. They both heard a clear hissing, and Li knew that they would soon find out.

A king Taijitu, fully grown, both heads present, slithered through the tall grass surrounding the pair of huntsman in training. The two exchanged a look and shot off into action, Li attacked the white head, Jun the black head.

Li could hear the shots from 'Clint', noting the screams from the head he was hitting. Li focussed back onto his own target, he charged the head, and as soon as the head thrust forward, he activated his semblance and sidestepped the lunge. He quickly spun, charged the dazed head, he phased back into the visible world just as he reached the head, mid-swing. Love caught the grimms ear canal, War lodged into its eye; he pulled War out, causing the eye to come out with it. The Taijitu head reared back and thrashed at Li viciously, Li dodged closely, pulling Love against the side of its mouth and letting the momentum of the head rend its own mouth open. Li jumped onto the head, connecting Love and War, and fired War straight through the white head.

Li had won. He looked to Jun to see how he was faring; Jun was struggling to penetrate the thick hide of the black Taijitu. His weapon was not up to the task. Li jumped off the limp head and headed over to help Jun; he knew once the Taijitu realised its counterpart's fate, it would go into a fury.

Li ran in between Jun and the lunging black head, blocking the lunge with his staff. He looked to Jun and said, "Need a hand?"

The humour of the moment quickly evaporated as the Taijitu broke Li's parry, and knocked him sailing away.

Jun needed to press an attack, but the front of the head was too tough for his weapon. Jun dodged a furious attack, somersaulting over to Li, picking him up, and explaining that he needed to get at the back of its head. Li wasn't good at being a distraction, but he needed to help his friend.

Li got up, pointed Jun towards a tree nearby, and went to get the Taijitu's attention.

Once Li saw that Jun was on the branch safely, he shot War towards it, and flew underneath the branch. Putting a concealed Jun between himself and the remaining Taijitu head; the monster slithered forwards with speed, lunging at Li, who had not expected an attack so quickly, Li instinctively used his semblance and dodged out of the way.

The Taijitu had lost its visual prey, and scanned the immediate area, using both sight and its vomeronasal system to 'smell' for prey. It caught the scent of Jun in the nearby tree and attacked. Jun thought he was hidden, and so did not block the attack. The branch he was on flew away, the tree snapped and began to fall, and Jun fell to the ground. Hard.

Li saw this happen from the side, and ran to Jun quickly, but the Taijitu was faster, it reared up, ready to finish the unconscious Jun off. As it lunched forward its head was crushed by the tree, inches away from Jun's legs.

Li had not stopped running while this happened; he reached Jun seconds later. He could not prepare himself for what he saw.

Jun was still unconscious, but his lower half was hidden under the tree. Li shouted at Jun to wake up. Li hooked War into the tree, jumped over, running the opposite direction. He got to the treeline, wrapped the wire around a tree and started to reel War back in. He left his weapons to do their job as he ran back to Jun.

He still couldn't see any movement in his chest. He ignored it, and started to push the enormous tree with his hands, it was moving, slowly, too slowly. He tried lifting it, he tried punching it, but nothing sped it up. He knelt at Jun's side, the tree had moved past his knees now, but still pinned him down.

Li had read about aura healing, but he had no idea how to apply it. He had to try something though; he held his hands above Jun's chest, closed his eyes and concentrated his entire aura into his hands. Once he was sure he had summoned as much aura as he could, he slammed his hands down onto Jun's chest.

Nothing.

He tried again. Nothing.

He tried again, with eyes watering. A twitch; Jun's hand clenched.

Li changed to more conventional means, giving Jun CPR, confident that there was sufficient aura in his body. Jun gasped, and coughed. Li hugged him, and lay his head back down softly. "Jun! You're alive!" Li roared.

Jun only coughed and smiled, "Thank you!" he whispered meekly.

After a few moments of silence, after Jun had composed himself, he spoke, "Why can't I feel my legs, Li?" Li sat quietly, not daring to answer. Jun looked to Li, who was staring at something below his vision. Jun propped his head up; looking down at the point Li was staring.

His eyes widened, filling with tears. "I'm so sorry, Jun! It's all my fault!"

"Just don't. Leave it be, Li." Li could feel the hatred. He had failed his friend. He had failed in his task. He had failed.

It was another few minutes before Goodwitch and some people in white came to the pair. Li asked to go with them when they took Jun, but Goodwitch stopped him, saying "You still have a task to complete young man. You need to continue, or you will leave Beacon too."

The words hurt Li, not only because it meant a choice between his dream and his friend; but it also confirmed Li's fear that Jun could not continue at Beacon. Li watched them leave; slumping to the ground once they left his sight.

He stayed for what felt like hours. Suddenly the twins from the other day came running through the clearing, they ran to Li's side, and asked him if he was hurt, probing him with questions.

Li didn't hear any of it. He stood up, ignoring the girls, and walked north. The twins were still concerned but dare not probe further after they noticed the look on Li's face. Li had only one goal now; become a huntsman. Nothing else mattered, no friendship, no distractions and no-one else trying to help him, he could do it alone.

Li made it to the temple within ten minutes; breaking into a sprint closed the gap much more quickly rather than the leisurely walk he had been going when with Jun.

Once Li walked up to the podiums at the temple, he noticed that there were only two left, two separate black dice. Li went to pick one up, but before he could pick it up he heard rustling in the tree line behind him, he turned quickly, only to see the twins from earlier and a male walk up behind them. He recognised the boy, realising he was the one who Jun had met in the main hall the day before. Li nodded at him, realising that they were to be his teammates for the next four years.

* * *

"And that's why I think it was always meant to be Jun who joined team PLYM." Li had finished describing Jun's fight style, his understanding nature, how he got on with the team members of PLYM, but he skirted around the details of Jun's injuries.

"You don't have to sell him to me, Mr. Kage, I know the boy. I know what happened to him, how it happened, and how it still affects him." Ozpin proclaimed.

Li's hope flickered, "But it's not true! He doesn't need that chair! Not really. It is only his mind that keeps him in it. He just needs help, just a push. He will rise to the opportunity. I promise you. He has been with the police department since then, he will learn quickly. I know it." Li pleaded.

"Oh? And what makes you more qualified to assess his health than the paid professionals I have tending to him on a weekly basis?" Li sighed, losing hope in his own conviction.

"I'm not. I just... I just feel something about him. His aura is strong, stronger than it was a year ago. He just needs a chance. Please? Talk to him yourself, I am sure you will see it too!" Ozpin and Goodwitch glanced at each other.

Ozpin looked back at Li, "I will consider him." That was enough for Li, his body relaxed. He had succeeded, he knew he had.

His meeting with Ozpin had lasted over an hour, and it had drained him. He lay half asleep in the hospital bed. He heard the door open and close; he turned his head, and smiled.

His beautiful faunus had joined him. She walked over to him, ran her hands through his hair, rubbing his ears. He closed his eyes and relaxed. She whispered, "How are you?"

"Tired, talked with Ozpin for ages today."

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I was just sorting some details out! Can you stay here tonight?"

"Not tonight, sorry."

Li's eyes opened, looking up at Velvets wide and sad. Velvet only smiled, "Not here tonight, but the nurse has told me that you can leave now! So I thought we could go back to my room, and have a nice big bed to ourselves?"

Li beamed, he started standing up, and embraced Velvet. "That sounds amazing!" he whispered into her ear. He walked to the bathroom, came out dressed, and with his wash bag in his arms; he looked for his suitcase, found it full underneath his bed, "I'm ready. Do you know if I have a room? Or is it okay to keep my things in your room for a bit?"

"You can keep it at mine!"

"Are you sure your team mates are okay with it?"

"Oh no, I forgot about them… Um… we will ask the nurse if she knows where you can stay."

They walked out, and asked the nurse for help. The nurse had no clue about Li's accommodation, but she did give them a key, and told them where they could stay the night. She warned them that they had better return the key, and find out tomorrow exactly where to go.

Velvet and Li walked together, off to the room on the other side of the school. It took twenty minutes until they reached the room, Li dumped his bags and fell on the large double bed in the room.

Velvet inspected the room, looked in the bathroom, and out the window; the view was beautiful, out over the cliffs, looking at the emerald forest. Li noticed Velvet looking out the window, and joined her, wrapping his hands around her, and kissing her neck. He moved away from her, taking his clothes off, and pulling on his pyjama trousers; he then slipped into the bed, and called for Velvet to join him. She dressed down to her smallclothes, once she removed them; she picked up shirt Li had discarded, slipped it on, and joined him in bed. They lay together for hours, within each other's arms, they were happy. They fell asleep; Li dreamt again.


	7. Getting in the Groove

Li and Velvet woke up at the sound of beeping; Velvet had an alarm set.

They stared at each other for a moment, kissed and both got up. Velvet and Li went to the bathroom together, coming out after 20 minutes, showers and routines finished.

They dressed, Velvet in her school uniform, Li into his combat gear. "Why are you wearing your gear today?" Velvet asked quizzically.

"I'm not sure, I just feel comfortable in it." Li realised how it may look walking in 'full' combat gear, and so left his leather vest off and donned his orange scarf. He also donned his casual sheathe, slipping Love and War into their homes. He knew it looked odd, but he only felt safe with them at his back.

They both walked out the door; Velvet kissed Li and made her way to classes. Li was left with the key for the door, and opted to go and talk to Ozpin before returning the key to the nurse.

Li walked slowly to Ozpin's office, knowing that he had nowhere to be in a hurry. Once he made it there, he knocked slowly at the door. After a moment the door clicked, and he heard a muffled voice speak, "Come in."

Li walked up to the desk on the far end of the room, stopping yards away, he saluted, "Good afternoon, sir! Sorry to be such a bother but I have a few questions concerning my situation."

"What can I help you with?" Ozpin said dryly, Li could tell something was bothering him.

"I was just curious about my living situation, and how I should proceed with training?" li stated bluntly, realising it was not the time for chit-chat.

Ozpin took a sip of his ever present mug, "Where have you stayed last night? If it is an empty room, then you can stay there. As far as your training, I thought it would be obvious that you are to continue taking classes as if nothing had happened. I would have thought a smart boy would have figured that out." Ozpin seemed almost angry at Li, but Li understood that it was merely misdirected.

Li saluted again, "Thank you for your time, sir." Li did not probe any further about team PLYM, seeing that it was not the time or place.

Li walked quickly down the steps, and opened his scroll to find where his class was. It was professor Oobleck's history class.

"_Joyous day" Li mused_.

Oobleck had a run of pointing out the obvious and making situations awkward without realising; it seemed as though his mouth moved too fast to be stopped by forethoughts.

Li walked into the class, trying to silently sit at the back, and pulled out his pad and paper. Before he had time to write down the title from the board, Oobleck spoke up, "Ah, Mr. Kage. So glad of you to finally join my class. You have missed a lot. Care to offer an explanation?"

Eyes turned silently, all locking onto Li. He felt his ears burn more than ever in that moment. Li quickly thought of Velvet to calm his nerves. He stood slowly, "I'm sorry I am late, I have been indisposed sir, medical emergency. I will be attending every lecture from here on out sir, I promise." Li sat again slowly, not acknowledging the classmates stares.

"I'm sure. Please see me after class, Mr. Kage."

Li sighed, realising he would have to explain his situation to yet another person.

The class went on for another forty-five minutes, Li managed to get all the notes down from the board, and all the important parts that Oobleck mentioned. He stayed at the end, waiting for all the other students to pass him, before moving to the bottom and standing in front of Oobleck's desk.

"So why is it that you have been missing for almost six weeks?"

Li sighed visibly, and began explaining to Oobleck about the current situation he found himself in. At the end of his explanation he asked if Oobleck would be willing to send a message to all the teachers, so that he wouldn't need to go through this all again; Oobleck agreed, and sent Li off with a warning, clearly still not completely convinced.

Li looked to his scroll, weapon forging was next. He had some time to make it there, and during his walk he pondered why Ozpin and Goodwitch had neglected to mention his situation to anyone else. Li was starting to piece together the puzzle until he found himself face first on the floor.

He quickly rolled and stood, expecting to look back and find a crack, instead he found a large individual surrounded by three scrawnier, but by no means weak, boys. Li did not recognise the boys, leading him to believe the aggressors were freshmen.

"You should watch where you are going, freak!" Li only looked at him with a quizzical look; he had experienced bullies, jerks, and all manner of bad people, but this kid, having physically assaulted a clearly armed older student, seemed stupid. The insult 'freak' also hadn't quite hit Li, until Li realised he wasn't wearing his beanie.

"What's wrong, freak? Can't speak? Or are your ears broken?" questioned the largest one.

"Which ones?" one of the smaller ones chimed in. They all laughed.

Li still just couldn't understand what this kid was thinking; before Li could act, he realised that he was late, and turned to leave, "Sorry, I can't do this right now, I will be seeing you around."

Li noticed the smiles turn to grimaces as he turned and jogged off to his next class.

Li loved weapon forging, even after five weeks away and a summer break, the teacher still knew that Li didn't need teaching. Li had told the teacher over a year ago about his father who forged 'Love and War', and had taught Li everything he could.

For Li the lack of teaching also meant that the other students wouldn't bother him. He had his own corner of the room to work, and today, he knew exactly what he wanted to make.

Li had his scroll open on the workbench, on the screen he had a picture marked, 'Clint'. Next to the picture he had a set of blueprints opened, marked in the top corner by 'Deadwood' and 'Sundance'. Li had a lunch break after this class, but he chose to stay in the workshop working on his project. He checked the time and saw that he only had fifteen minutes before his next class; he quickly packed away his project in the workshop lockers.

He ran into the cafeteria, grabbing an apple and sandwich on his way in.

He stood eating the sandwich looking out over the long room; his eyes focussed when he saw some familiar ears. He jogged over to them, and upon coming close quickly swallowed his mouthful, and kissed the unsuspecting faunus girl on the cheek, "Well hello there!" he greeted.

She turned, smile planted across her face, eyes wide, and a blush creeping onto her soft cheeks, "Hey, yourself!" She replied, brandishing a kiss on his lips.

Velvet quickly collected herself and turned to the others at the table. "Everyone, this is Li! These are my teammates." Li turned to them, smiling, and saluted.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all!" They all responded in kind, positive tones. Li liked them, which made him glad Velvet will be surrounded by good people. He turned to Velvet, "Sorry I can't stay, I have to get to my next class, I can't be late after so long away."

Velvet pouted, causing Li to kiss her once again, this time lasting a bit long. The pair heard a cough, and quickly parted, turning to the sound, Velvets team all stared disapprovingly, "Sorry!" Velvet and Li blurted out.

"Sorry to leave so soon, but I must head off, goodbye!" Li explained to the team, Li then turned to Velvet, "See you tonight? Same room as last." Velvet nodded, and Li turned away and left the hall.

Li's last two lectures of the day, combat training and grimm studies, went by without much incident, Li kept to himself, and only garnered a few harsh looks and stares from classmates.

Once the days classes had ended, Li decided he needed to catch up with the work he had missed, and went to the library to pick up a few books and study for the evening.

Li pulled nine books from the shelves, varying from grimm studies, to history, and even politics books. Li resisted the urge to pick up the comics he saw, and instead sat himself on a table, with all the books laid out in front of him. He started on a book detailing the faunus war, trying to learn more about the divide that he ignored for so long.

It had been about half an hour before Li noticed a couple teams walking past him, he didn't pay any attention to them, but he recognised some whispers, but he couldn't place where he had heard them. Suddenly a pair of familiar silver eyes were peeking over the book he was reading, "Hey, Li! Long-time no see!"

Li dropped the book, gasping. He quickly collected himself, "Yeah, it's been too long, Ruby! How have you been?"

"Pfft, don't get me started! Being a leader of a team is so much effort. There is so much to do!" Li laughed at that, he thought about Ruby being a leader, but wasn't surprised; something about the young girl was inspiring.

"Congratulations on being team leader! I'm sure you will be wonderful, regardless of how much effort it is. Trying times bring out the best in most." Li still wasn't really use to this small talk stuff, but he tried his best.

Li leant forward, putting his hand on Ruby's arm, "I need to thank you, from the bottom of my heart!"

"What for?" Ruby looked puzzled.

"It turns out that the combat exercise I had that day we met, was actually more of a test."

"Did you pass?"

"I did, just about, but its thanks to you that I did." Ruby only became more confused, and Li continued, "When you showed me your fighting style, it gave me the chance I needed to win the fight." Li continued to go into detail about the fight, how it was against his team, the tactics he learnt from Ruby, and the outcome of the fight.

"Wow! So you are a one man team?" Ruby paused, "That is SO AWESOME!" A quick shush from the other side of a bookcase quietened Ruby.

A blush creeped onto her cheeks, but Ruby continued undeterred, "Sorry, but that is really cool! So where have you been for 5 weeks? Training in some cool secret bunker or something?" Li let out a giggle.

"Unfortunately not, I had an accident in the fight, I've been in a coma since then, and I only woke up on Monday."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Wow. You are so cool!"

Li was surprised with the lack of pity, but instead basked in the admiration he was receiving. Before Ruby could continue a cold voice came from around the corner, "Ruby! Stop gallivanting with strange boys and come and study. You need it."

Ruby and Li turned to see sky blue eyes staring at them. "I'm sorry Weiss; I was just catching up with a friend." Ruby explained.

"It's my fault; I did drag on a bit. I am Li by the way, pleasure to meet you Weiss." Li stood and saluted, only to be met with an eye roll and silence, Weiss quickly left and Ruby followed sullenly. "Until next time, Ruby." Li added.

Li had spent another two hours at the library, managing to finish notes on just four of the nine books he had gotten out. He brought the remaining five with him on his way back to the room.

Once he made it back, he flung the heavy books onto the desk in the corner. Li considered continuing his studies, but couldn't face it, and instead changed into his sleeping garb, and sat on the bed, doodling on some scrap paper.

It wasn't long before Li heard a knock on the door; he smiled widely, and went to open it up, knowing exactly who it was.

He opened the door, but his smile quickly fell off his face, replaced by grinding teeth and sad eyes. "What happened?" Velvet through herself into Li, sobbing loudly. Li picked her up bride style, closed the door with his foot and took her to the bed; he sat down, the sobbing faunus still in his arms.

He wiped a tear from her face, and asked softly, "What happened?" Velvet explained to Li all about Cardin and how since he stopped bullying some kid named Jaune-arc; he had started picking on her more.

Li knew the kid as soon as she described him. He sat, soothing her, for a few hours in silence.

"What dorm-room is he in?" he finally asked.

"No. Don't do anything to him. Just stay with me, don't ever leave me." Velvet pleaded, nuzzling more into Li's grasp.

"I would never leave you, never truly. I will always be connected to you. Just tell me which direction he is in, I won't leave you alone tonight, I swear." She pointed out the window, to the east, Li could see a pair of students sparring on the roof, and noted its location.

"Let's get to bed, we need the sleep. I will protect you. For as long as I breathe." Velvet nodded, as Li undressed her; he slipped his shirt onto her, kissed her forehead and lay down with her.

Li waited for Velvet to drift off to sleep before letting himself succumb to his exhaustion. Li wanted to dream tonight. The nightmare began. It wasn't his though.


	8. The Nightmare

Li didn't know why he had asked where Cardin was staying, it was just instinctive.

Li looked out into the white expanse, scanning it for anything irregular. He recognised a pair of connected clouds that he recognised; he couldn't place when he had seen them before, until he got close and felt them.

Li was surprised at how much they had changed, the clouds, originally being a huge black swirl and a small white swirl, mirrored in the other set, now were both large white clouds, connected almost side by side, with tiny orbiting black satellites.

Li quickly realised where he was when he noticed the clouds moving in and around each other, as if they were sparring; he looked straight down; finding exactly what he wanted.

He melted down a few yards, stopping at the largest black cloud in a cluster of four, the three smaller ones being fed by the largest. Li looked for the white clouds accompanying them, finding them all hidden behind the larger black counterparts.

Li moved into the large black cloud, feeling something he had never felt before, pure hatred. All the standard emotions he would often feel were not present, he got some sense of pride, but the hatred quickly overpowered it.

Li phased back out, collecting his thoughts and planning what to do. Li didn't quite know what he was doing, it just felt necessary. Li promised to never leave Velvets side, but here, he could do anything and everything.

Li moved closer to the black cloud and whispered, "They are coming. They are everywhere. They are behind you." The cloud quickly convulsed, Li felt it again, but there was nothing new, still just hatred.

Li was puzzled, he decided to look at the small white cloud behind; upon examination, he could feel duty and pride, admirable emotions, but both were feeding and being fed by the hatred. Tainted emotions.

Li needed to try something new; he traversed the space, nearing the maelstrom. He looked into it, and quickly noticed some frayed points within the black swirls; fear and doubt Li concluded after feeling them. The small frays of black felt loose, Li decided to bring his supposed left hand up, and concentrated.

His eyes opened and he saw two black strands, about a metre in length dangling flimsily in front of him. He looked to the swirl to the east, and moved quickly to its side.

Li laid the long strands of smoke across the length of the black cloud; he rested his left hand over the top, and concentrated. Li kept his eyes open, and saw smoke manifest where he had concentrated and the strands came to life.

The strands wrapped and stretched over the length of the large cloud, Li could see the opposing emotions fighting, and tracked the conflict across all the funnels in the area. He had succeeded. Li floated back to the maelstrom, and spent the rest of his dream staring into the large white cloud that stuck close to the maelstrom every night.

Li's eyes opened slowly; sleep falling off his lashes. Li lay unmoving, not wanting to disturb the beautiful faunus in front of him. It was a few minutes until Velvets alarm started beeping, rousing the bunny eared girl.

Their eyes met and they stared longingly at each other, "Thank you for staying with me last night!" Velvet whispered softly, causing Li to blush. "I know it must have been difficult not to do anything, but I needed you."

Li smiled, and slowly kissed velvets button nose, "Anything for you."

They rose slowly, performing their morning routine, showering and dressing. Both wore their uniforms today, something Velvet was quite pleased with, "You look cute in a uniform!" She smiled and winked at Li. Li only scoffed, not convinced.

Li and Velvet walked hand in hand to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast. They walked in, picked up their food, and sat together chatting. The rest of Velvets team joined them a few moments later. They joked and poked fun at the faunus couple, all in good humour, as they ate their food.

Li spotted the boy, Cardin, when he entered; he was slouched slightly, eyes darting about. Clearly something was bothering the young man.

Li decided to check on him, using the excuse of taking his food to the bin to slip away momentarily. Li moved up behind Cardin, who was lining up for food and whispered, "Hey, Cardin."

The large boy jumped, and made an almost imperceptible squeak. "Not to worry, only me, the freak!" Li spoke slowly and quietly. Li knew what his voice would be doing to the boy, and let it do its work.

As Li left, he dropped his rubbish in the bins, and headed back to Velvet, happy with the outcome of his dream adventure.

Velvet gave him a questioning look when he returned, "Just had an amicable chat with him, I don't think he will bother you again." Li said smiling.

He didn't want to share his dream with Velvet, not until Li fully understood what it meant. Over the years Li had learnt about his abilities, he learnt quickly that it was somewhat related to the real world, and that it was to do with auras. Although the biggest breakthroughs had come in the recent days, since he woke from the coma, the revelation of the white clouds solidified his suspicions about being connected to auras, and the way the clouds interacted each other made Li sure that not only could he affect the auras in his state, but that others could affect auras independently. There was still much to understand however, namely why Li had this ability.

Li walked Velvet to her first class, medical practice, thanked the nurse again for everything, and explained the room situation before rushing off to his classes for the day.

Li's classes went by without incident; it seemed all his peers had moved on from the confusion and irritation at his presence.

Li decided to leave Velvet to her team, he had realised he was taking up a lot of her time, and so Li spent his spare time in the workshop, working on his side project.

He was only allowed in the workshop while a professor was around, and so it came to about half past six, and Li was forced to clear up and vacate the room. Li decided to head to his bay window for a moment, to get some pictures.

On his way past the library he noticed someone coming down some stairs. "Jun?" Li yelled, running over. "What are you doing here?"

"Ozpin messaged me on my old scroll, asking if I could come in for a meeting." Jun responded hesitantly.

"That's cool, what did he want?" Li asked, as if he already knew the answer.

"Well, he just wanted to ask me something, but I'm not sure what to do about it."

Li's smile lessened, "I know what you should do. Don't make any decisions until Sunday; I have something to give you."

"How do you know I have a decis…" Jun paused, laughed and stared at Li, "You son of a… You really are too sneaky."

Li laughed at that, patted Jun's shoulder, "I'm glad to see you up and about, I told you it was easy."

Jun gave Li a smack, "This was anything but easy you dick!"

Li only laughed more, "I will see you Sunday, at the town centre?"

"Yeah… Sure thing man; it better be good." Li smiled, hugged Jun, and continued on to the bay window.

Li sat there for a few hours, taking in the beauty of the city, noting how there was a large number of ships flying and sailing in, the festival; of course. Li had completely forgotten that other students would be coming into Vale.

It was late in the evening when Li heard a familiar rustle behind him, when he turned he saw deep brown eyes, not amber eyes.

Li smiled, reaching out a hand for Velvet to join him. "I thought I'd give you some time with your team tonight!" Li explained, feeling guilty.

"I appreciate that, but I wanted to be with _you_. I went to the room, but you weren't there, so I came straight here!" Li looked to his lap blushing, but when he felt a hand in his hair, rubbing his ears, he relaxed.

They sat together for a few hours; it was evening when they saw a figure running out into the courtyard.

Velvet and Li were both intrigued; the figure stopped by the courtyard statue, and a few moments later a second figure came out of a nearby tree and joined her, the two figures departed together, quickly disappearing out of view. Velvet and Li looked at each other in puzzlement, but quickly moved on.

They left soon after, going back to their room and spending their night together again. Tonight was a special night for them both. They didn't sleep for a long time, only 'enjoyed' each other's company. Once they did fall asleep, Li dreamt, as he always did.

Li woke up late; having a lie-in was exactly what he needed after last night. Velvet was in the shower when he woke up. Once she came out, Li admired her glistening body, reminiscing about the night they had spent together.

Once they were both awake and recharged, they left each other, Velvet went to study in the library, and Li went to the workshop; to finish off his project.

Once Sunday rolled around, Li was tired; his Saturday was spent labouring in the workshop, he hadn't realised how far behind his project was and so had to spend hours working to finish before the project was done.

Li rushed off to meet Jun in the town centre.

It was close to 16:00 when Li got to the town centre, a full two hours late. "You dick, where have you been?" Jun almost yelled, spilling some of his coffee.

"I'm really sorry; I just had some minor issues with your surprise." Li smiled, embarrassed. Li sat down in the seat across from Jun.

Once Li ordered his drink, he relaxed, the conversation with Jun continued, and they joked and laughed with each other for a while, until finally Jun's curiosity got the better of him. "So where's my surprise?"

Li laughed, picked up a box from his side, which he had hidden from Jun's view.

Li handed it over to Jun, smiling, "Open it up, I hope you like them!"

Jun opened the box, and read the note on the top, _"Dear Jun, I hope you like these, I designed them based on 'Clint'. 'Deadwood' and 'Sundance' here are much more powerful than Clint was, the high impact magnums are built with a special mechanism, which allows for quicker bullet chambering. The magazines have been improved to hold triple the number of bullets, the blades on the front are a part of the gun barrel, making them both strong blades, and they are also five inches longer than 'Clint' was, making it far more deadly. - Li"_ Jun read silently, smiling as he read, Li thought he spotted a tear, but couldn't be sure.

"I thought you would need these to help you make it out of your slump. It seems that you didn't need them though, so instead they can be your present for coming back to Beacon! If that is what you want!"

Jun smiled, "Thank you, they are awesome! So much cooler than 'Clint'. 'Deadwood' and 'Sundance' though? Not the greatest names!" Jun was teasing Li.

"You can re-name them if you want!" Li snapped.

They both laughed, sipping at their cold coffees. "If you want we could go pract…"

Both Li and Jun froze. A large explosion and a plume of smoke resonated from the docks a few blocks away. They looked at each other, "Go get bring the police!" Li snapped, Jun nodded and jogged off. Li ran off, following the backstreets towards the docks.


	9. The Bear Bellows

Since the first explosion, Li had heard a number more and some yelling and screams.

Every sound helped Li move faster. Li made it to the docks and slowing down he looked around a corner and saw a small ginger girl fighting off a number of attackers. Li was ready to go to her side and help when suddenly a number of gunships started a strafing run. Li watched as the small ginger girl flew backwards 50 metres, and started charging some form of energy ball. As the energy canon fired from the girls arms, Li realised he wasn't needed.

Li looked nearby, and seeing a body; he went to it to see if he could help. Li noticed the symbol on the bodies clothing and stopped.

The White Fang.

Even Li, with his ignorance about current affairs, knew about the White Fang. Li felt his ears twitch; he looked over and saw an airship with its doors open. Li quickly picked up the body and moved it into the dark corner he was hiding.

Li ran over to the airship, and clambered in with a couple other uniformed men. They all sat and strapped in, then a tall ginger man with a cane ran in, closed the doors and started shouting at the pilots to lift off.

Li had no time to think about where he was going, he was just hoping the ginger girl outside didn't take down the airship he was stowing away on.

After a few minutes, Li relaxed, believing he was safe now; a quick survey of his surroundings quickly crushed that belief.

The other faunus around him were quiet, nothing was said, nothing explained, but Li could recognise how they felt, they had failed. They were not mad at themselves though, they were scared.

The ginger man was ranting, and shouting at them all, calling them all animals and useless beasts.

Li couldn't understand what the fearsome White Fang were doing with this human; all the stories he had heard portrayed the White Fang to be pro-faunus, and anti-human, i.e. killing humans. So it made no sense to Li, but he kept his mouth shut, trying to figure out how he might be able to survive this trip.

He decided that he needed to mirror what the other members did. All of them wore masks and hoods, covering any recognisable features, Li should be able to pass as a new recruit; he hoped.

It was a long hour of insults and yelling until the airship started to land. Li hoped that he had made a good decision, but it was too late to turn back now.

The doors opened, a dim white light replaced the red glow of the cabin lights.

All the faunus got up, preparing to leave, but before just one could leave the cabin, the ginger man spoke up, "Where do you think you animals are going? You need to unpack these ships, all of you. Now." The faunus growled and murmured, but none dare speak up.

They all picked up a box, or a pipe, or anything, and started taking it off the ship. Li picked up a box, quickly realising it was very light, so he moved it to his right arm and picked up another.

"Hey, you! What are you doing?" came a voice from behind him, Li froze in fear. "It's pointless to carry more than you can lift, you will hurt yourself!" the voice continued.

Li exhaled, relieved slightly, "It's okay, these are light boxes, but I appreciate the concern." By now the ginger man had left, as had the other faunus, Li was left with a large man, hairy knuckles and a powerful looking jaw, Li assumed he must be a bear faunus, judging by the size of him.

"Hey, someone's gotta look out for us, it's not like the brass will care much for us grunts. The names Jon," he bellowed while taking down his hood and mask, revealing some bear ears and black eyes, "I can't say I've seen you about, you new?"

Li nodded, "Yeah I am, the only few people I had gotten to know since starting have… they didn't make it." Li paused for dramatic effect, making it as convincing as he could. "My name is Li, nice to meet you Jon." Li felt no reason to use a fake name; no-one here will have known Li, even if they had gone to Beacon.

Li and Jon walked down the ramp, onto a large airfield; Li let Jon lead the way, trying to learn as much about the area as quickly as he could.

They continued silently, entering a hangar as the others from the group came out, to retrieve the remaining ship contents. They all gestured to Jon to adorn his mask and hood, clearly someone important was around.

Jon lobbed the box he was carrying onto Li momentarily, "You can handle this can't you, big man?" Jon joked.

Once they made it into the hangar they saw why Jon was told to put his mask back on; the ginger guy, who Li learnt from Jon was Roman, was angrily beating on his table, and yelling at a map of Vale and a faunus with hair slicked hiding his ears. The faunus had a similar mask to the grunts, but wore no hood.

Neither Jon or Li wanted to linger, they quickly left.

Once they made it back to the airship they saw all the other faunus waiting around, clearly there was nothing left to take in. "I don't think it's going to be a day to celebrate; no drinks after work tonight." Jon spoke to the group.

Jon turned to Li, "you got somewhere to stay tonight?"

Li shook his head, "I'm sure I can find somewhere, can't be that difficult to find a bench somewhere on this airfield."

Jon let out a bellowing laugh, "That's a good one, don't worry, you can come and stay with me. I'm not sure it will be as comfortable as a bench, but you will be with friends." Li couldn't exactly deny the offer with all eyes on him. Li couldn't tell whether they trusted him, or pitied him; the masks and hoods were very unsettling, Li could understand why people didn't trust him when he wore a beanie and stuck to the shadows all the time.

Jon, who insisted on being called Lil Jon, and Li walked for a few hours, until they reached Jon's home.

It could barely be considered habitable, but a working heater and cardboard over the windows made it more appealing than the street.

They both walked in, and having shed their White Fang masks and clothing, were greeted by a uproarious cheer. "Lil Jon!" the shouts came.

"Hey, everyone! How are we tonight?" Jon replied to the room full of faunus. Li saw feline faunus, rabbit faunus, canine faunus, a few ram faunus and even one or more monkey faunus. "This is Li, he's new at work, and needed a place to stay! You better be nice!" Jon bellowed, pointing his finger towards the room.

"Hello Li!" came a shout form the room, Li stepped forward and waved, deciding it was impolite to salute for once.

Jon pulled Li back out, and showed him where Li could freshen up, and where he would be sleeping.

"Jon… Do they know who we work for? And who are they anyway? Family of yours?" Li questioned.

Jon stopped, and sighed, "They are my family, but not by blood… Some of us faunus struggle more in this world than the _media_ lets on. So we need to stick together, I provide for them, and they provide for me, we are there for each other."

Li noticed how he sidestepped the question, "That's really admirable, and I'm glad you have invited me in for the night, but you missed a question. Do they not know about what you do? About the danger you are in daily?"

"Look! I didn't ask for this life! I needed to provide for my family, and the White Fang are the only ones who will hire me, they pay for this place, they pay to keep it heated, so that everyone downstairs can save up and hopefully one day they can live comfortably. I would do anything for my family." Lil Jon was almost growling.

Li had never seen this part of the world, it chilled him to the very core; he had always been a spoiled brat in comparison, but he decided that he would make a difference. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to know so I didn't let it slip. You are an inspiration Lil Jon." Li ended the questions for now; Jon didn't deserve any more probing tonight.

"I'm beat, I think that I'll go to sleep now, thank you again Lil Jon!"

Jon only smiled. Li slept that night, although he was not comfortable, something was missing.

Once he did sleep, he dreamt, tonight was interesting. There was more joy and happiness than he had ever seen in one place; there was also a lot of fear, but the joy was overwhelming.

Li woke up slowly; as he opened his eyes, he looked around seeing a number of other sleepers around him, all quietly stirring with him.

Li quickly went to the bathroom, and after going through his routine, came out wearing the same clothes as he had the day before; thankfully he had put the White Fang uniform over his own clothing when he had infiltrated the airship.

He went down the stairs and into the kitchen to find Lil Jon standing over a large pot of what Li hoped was porridge. "Morning Lil Jon, how was your night?" "It was fun, a lot of questions about you though, many and more that I couldn't answer, I think we will have to change that." Li got quiet; he sat at the kitchen table. "But not right now, right now it's time for morning sludge!" Li shot Jon a quizzical look. "It's like dinner sludge but a bit sweeter!" Jon teased, handing Li a bowl of the sludge.

Li took a sip, and was surprised by the taste, "That's actually really nice!"

"You will soon grow tired of it, trust me!"

"So what are the orders for today? I haven't heard anything." Li questioned. "I hope it's not with that Roman guy again, I don't know why we have to put up with him."

Jon shuffled awkwardly, "Unfortunately, he is the one paying the contracts right now, so we have to work for him."

"But I joined the White Fang because I thought we would help rise up against the subjugation, not help some human rob other humans. I didn't realise we were just mercenaries."

Jon stopped stirring the sludge, "WE ARE NOT MERCENARIES!" Jon quickly hushed his voice, "I… it is just what… It's not OUR place. We are just grunts; we do what we are told." Li paused, collecting his thoughts; he had clearly struck a nerve.

"But we shouldn't be. We are faunus, we need to be a family, stick together, but instead we let ourselves get pushed around by our 'leaders'. I wonder how they live. How much of a cut from the contracts they get. We deserve better, we aren't just nobodies, we are a family." Li spoke viciously, almost believing his own words.

He had never known about the White Fang in any great detail, but the whole system seemed broken to him. Jon seemed to agree, as he made no comment against it.

"I admire your spirit, but we can't change anything. We might be a family, but the brass doesn't care. If we step out of line we are done, if we try to leave, we are done. If you speak to the wrong person, you are done." Jon turned to Li, "You need to be careful, that kind of talk leads to disappearances."

Li finished the bowl of sludge, and looked up at Jon, "Working for Roman has led to more than a few 'disappearances'."

It was a long time of silence until Jon spoke up, "Come on, we need to get to the airfield, we don't want to be late." Li nodded and followed him out the door.

It had been a whole week of moving cargo and boxes from airships for Li and Jon; the biggest excitement coming from when Lil Jon taught Li how to play dice, Li actually started winning, until Lil Jon started trying and cleaned Li out.

Li spent the week listening, and learning. Trying to get closer to Roman proved fruitless, and the witch that occasionally made an appearance only scared Li and every other person in the building, so that led nowhere. The faunus with the slicked hair, whose name was Adam, had seemed receptive, and even talked with Li about a great deal of his hatreds. However nothing came up that was particularly useful.

Regardless of the lack of solid info, Li had eavesdropped and noted maps to find some amount of information, however Li learnt early that he won't find anything concrete, and instead spent his time with other endeavours.

Li started to get partnered with new people, to help carry boxes, and Li decided to start asking questions, trying to find people he could trust. He had managed to form bonds with most people. The easiest way to form a bond was to complain about Roman, or express the fear about the witch; Li knew it was safe to talk about them like that, but Li was careful, at the behest of Lil Jon, to not speak too ill of the White Fang leadership.

Over the week though, Li felt like he had a decent following of people, all of whom felt that they were no longer doing anything for the betterment of faunus.

Li knew his work was done, when his newfound friends set up a private meeting together, to discuss everything. Li had brought Lil Jon along, to show him the support that he had; and as protection.

During the meeting, a lot of hate was directed towards Roman, and some towards the witch known as Cinder, and some people even started planning to take them out. Li decided to step up, and explain to the faunus friends, that the humans weren't the problem this time.

This brought on some gasps and yells, but Li quickly explained, _"Who was it that set up this contract? It wasn't the human, it wasn't the witch. It was our 'glorious' leaders. the brass have__ gone soft; we won't be taken seriously if we are working for humans."_ Li reminisced about his speech, hoping it had gotten through to enough of them; he knew Jon agreed, but he was fearful that it wasn't enough.

The meeting had finished after Li's speech. That had been Friday, it was Saturday now, and tomorrow was another White Fang rally; to give out orders and sign up new members, Li knew something big would be happening at the rally; he hoped it was what he wanted.

Li snapped back into reality as he heard his name called out by Roman. "That's right; today you will be coming with the raiding party." Li gulped, but nodded.

_"How did he know my name? Something is up." Li thought, "Perfect." _

As the crowd awaiting todays orders dispersed Li walked over to Lil Jon and pulled him aside, "Something is up Jon."

The lack of the nickname immediately made Jon serious. Li and Jon walked over to a quieter part of the hangar, "What's wrong? What have you done now?" Jon seemed concerned; it warmed Li's heart, making what he will have to do soon even harder.

"Look, I don't think I have much time. Roman shouldn't know me by name. Something has changed. Roman would not have brought me on a mission if he had a choice." Li put on a fearful face, even though all he actually felt was guilt. "I think this 'mission' is a chance to get rid of me."

Jon scoffed, "Har! You are so paranoid! There is no way, no-one would blab to Roman, and there is no way he is going to 'get rid of you'"

Li looked to the floor, "I hope you are right, but maybe they went to leadership? And they told Roman about it? I don't know. But I have been talking to more people, and I think that the Adam guy wasn't as receptive as I thought." Li took a breath, "Look I know I'm paranoid, but this is just a precaution." Li held his hand out.

Jon looked at the outstretched hand quizzically, "What is a precaution?"

Li sighed, and turned over his hand. In it lay a pile of lien, "It is everything I have earned since joining the White Fang, not including the food I needed. I want you to take it, and use it to help the family."

Jon looked at Li, pushing his hand away, "No, you idiot, don't pull this crap!"

"JON!" Li was angry now. "Seriously, just take it; you can give it back when I get back, just hold onto it, please?" Jon agreed and pocketed the lien.

Romans voice carried over the hangar, "Hey, fox-boy, stop making out with your friend and get your ass to the airship, we leave in ten."

Li looked at Jon, "Remember who your real family is. Thank you for everything Lil Jon!" Lil Jon smiled at the return of his nickname.

The airship journey was long, and quiet, like the one that brought Li to the airfield.

Roman barked out some orders, about the acquisition of some large dust containers. Li was starting to fear that he really was found out.

He started sweating when Roman told him that he would have to jump out alone, and check the area was secure.

It was over an hour when the airship door opened, and Li was pointed towards the door and given a small sabre sword. They were quite a distance from the ground, but Li saw a way down; he also noticed the large number of 'Schnee dust Co' symbols on the containers below.

He quickly looked towards the city past the docks, trying to determine if he was in Vale; he was.

Roman yelled at Li to jump out, and Li complied, jumping over to the top of a container pile, only 20 metres away from the airship, rather than taking the 50 metre drop towards the ground. Li could hear an audible groan from Roman, just as quickly Li could also see a number of shadows moving at the nearby loading crane.

Li looked at Roman, and saw a smile plastered across his face. Li gave Roman a wave and a large gaping smile right back. The disgruntled Roman gave a grimace and pointed his cane towards Li.

The smile never left his face as Li activated his semblance, and somersaulted to the ground behind the containers, out of sight of the airship. Li heard no explosion and could only assume no shot was fired; he was glad for it as he noticed the sound of footsteps. The sounds came from his right and left, Li knew he would be fighting either a couple skilful assassins, or a number of hired goons. As the footsteps seemed more and more out of time, Li knew it was the latter.

Li quickly looked each way; he counted 13 men, all in suits, wearing red ties, bowler hats and red sunglasses. Li smiled again, until he realised something. He had to lose, otherwise Roman would not stop.

Li somersaulted over a number of slashes from red swords and dodged a couple shots ringing out from pistols; he couldn't start attacking until he knew how to lose, and not die.

He thought of something, and he realised he had nothing better.

Quickly Li pulled his sword out, swinging into the legs of the closest individual, the man fell hard. Li activated his semblance, and sidestepped through the group, to the outlying men, trying to find someone that no-one was looking at. There's one; activated his semblance, and flew into the man, rocketing away to a remote spot .As he was trying to hold his semblance for as long as possible, it was already 8 seconds in, and the limit he had ever held it had been 13 seconds. His semblance finished, it had been a record 17 seconds but Li could pat himself on the back later, because he had a lot to do.

Li was not around the corner of the nearest container tower when his semblance kicked out, and he heard yells; Li knew he only had a few seconds to fulfil his plan. He quickly propped the man, clearly still dazed and confused from the quick trip, up against the container and started to quickly unbutton his clothing. Li managed to wriggle out of his own clothing at the same time, and quickly switched clothing, making sure his ears were hidden beneath the bowler hat.

Li adjusted the hood and mask back onto the still dazed head, and readied his weapon, quickly noticing that he needed to switch weapons, he threw the sword to the ground and grabbed the pistol from the honorary 'White Fang' man.

Li positioned the pistol to the man's head, and as the first of his reinforcements turned the corner, shot.

The next moments were hard for Li, he had never killed a human before; he needed to put on a hard face though. He looked at the other men, and gave a hearty smile. "Barely put up a fight, stupid freak." He said coldly, daggers in his heart at every word.

The other men, congratulated him, and cheered. They moved to signal at the airship. Li and the other men turned the corner, waving and lifting thumbs up to the airship. Shortly after, the airship left, which Li was grateful for.

The men returned to the body, and Li argued that it was his prize, so he should do the honours of taking out the trash, the men conceded. Li slowly carried the body to the water's edge, and whispered a small prayer and apology when everyone was out of earshot.

Li got out of any post drinks with the 'lads', as they called themselves, explaining that _"The mongrel got a couple kidney shots in, I feel like vomiting already"_ They all seemed happy with the explanation and let Li go off on his own. Once Li was a few blocks from where the others left him, he suddenly broke into a sprint. He had somewhere he needed to be.

During his sprint he lost the hat, the glasses, and he slowly removed the jacket and shirt from his attire, revealing his bare chest, and removing all the bloodied items of clothing.

Li reached the airfield, and asked frantically if there was a ship to Beacon tonight. "I'm sorry; there is no more services to Beacon tonight." The receptionist responded, trying to ignore the shirtless nature of her guest.

Li pleaded, begged her to help him. "I am sorry; there are no more pilots here tonight. But there is a path up the cliff if you are so desperate." She picked up a map, and quickly jotted a path for Li.

"Thank you so much, I owe you one!" Li let out, beaming. He ran out, looked at the map, and shot off, ignoring the pain in his legs.

The route was long, it took Li an hour to reach the bottom of the cliff, and another 2 hours to reach the top of the cliff, but nothing was going to stop him.

He ran into the school, not caring about the noise he made, he had somewhere to be.

It was well past 2:00.

Li came to a familiar door, and rapped on it loudly.

Li felt water on his face, he wasn't sure why.

When the door opened everything in Li's life felt complete.

Velvet looked wide eyed at Li, before a word could leave her mouth Li fell into her arms, bringing her close. Velvet could feel a wet area forming on her shoulder, she wrapped her arms around Li's neck, stroking his hair and ears, "It's only been a week, silly!"

Li let out a laugh, but the tears never stopped; Li couldn't understand why he couldn't stop, not until Velvet pulled away and looked at his face. She saw the specs of blood and took a step back, fearful, "What have you done?"

Li looked to the ground, "I… did… something… I will not soon forget what I have done tonight, to survive, to come back to you… but… I did the right thing…" The words struggled out of Li.

The feeling was difficult to comprehend, Li went silent, and went into the bathroom, he turned the shower on, and sat in the bathtub. He saw the red washing away from him, tinting the white porcelain a pink. Not a single drop of this was his.

He suddenly felt a hand on his back, and a hand run through his hair, "What... What are you doing?"

A long pause followed, "I am cleaning off the man I am in love with, so that he can come back to me." Li looked down into the bathtub, tears leaving his eyes, mixing with the fading red colour. The water soon turned clear, and Li got out of the bathtub.

He stared at Velvet, and kissed her nose, "I promised you that I will never leave you, that I would protect you with all my heart. I broke that promise this week. I left you alone, with no warning and no explanation. I have been punished by the world for that, and I will never leave you alone again. From this day forward, you are my priority mission, nothing else."

Li leant into Velvet, expecting to meet her lips, "You better start with an explanation! I have been worried sick!" Velvet said with a smile on her face, teasing Li.

She quickly leant in, giving Li what he craved so deeply. Once they pulled away Li responded, "Tomorrow, I promise to tell you all." Velvet nodded. They retired to bed, and slept peacefully. Both felt complete once more. Li dreamt, and was happy he did.


	10. A New Mission

Li woke up quickly and sat up straight backed.

The dream he had had had turned dark. The maelstrom was larger now, more black swirled around, and he felt overwhelmed.

Just as he was about to scream in pain he felt a pressure on his hand. Big brown eyes looked up to him.

"You are not alone. I am here for you. Now and forever." Li calmed down, and lay back down next to his bunny girlfriend. Li felt her hand run through his shaggy hair, reaching his ears. His eyes closed as the ecstasy of the moment took over, he let out a small moan.

Li slowly turned to Velvet, "I did something terrible, Velv. It hurts to even think about it…" Li took a deep breath, and forced out his next sentence, "I killed a man. Not a Grimm, some guy, with friends, and a family. He and his gang were going to kill me, but I had no other option. I shot him." Li's eyes glassed over, and he held back tears, forcing his eyes shut to keep them at bay.

A hand brushed against his cheek, causing him to open his eyes; those big beautiful brown eyes were looking at him again.

Li couldn't look her in the eyes for long; he turned his sight away, fearful for how she saw him now, as a murderer.

The hand moved under his chin and brought his sight up to hers. "I will always love you." Li's eyes widened and filled with tears again. "I fell in love with you while you were unconscious for 5 weeks. I had no idea who you were, whether you were nice or not, but something inside me caused me to connect to you. I will never be able to describe what that something is, but it means that I will be yours no matter what you do, what you say or what you become." Li felt lips press against his nose as his eyes blinked, he wiped the tears away from his eyes.

"I will never stop loving you. I still struggle to comprehend just how amazing and perfect you are. Velvet, I am so deeply and madly in love with you. You are my everything." The couple stayed together in an intertwined embrace for hours.

Li opened his eyes slowly, having fallen back to sleep in Velvets arms.

Li was pleased he had the faunus girl, he genuinely wouldn't have made it this far alive if it weren't for her. Li knew about what she had done for him during his coma; the nurse had explained how she had poured her own aura into him, to keep him alive, and had continued far longer than is healthy. She had even spent a few days in her own medical bed because of what she did for Li, and she continued to look after him for 5 weeks while he recovered.

Li knew he would never be able to repay what she had done for him, by not only saving his life, but giving him a life he was happy in. But he knew that he only had one goal for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately Li also knew a lot about the plans of the less than reputable people in Vale, having quickly scrawled a note for Velvet; he left quietly, to find Ozpin.

On his way to Ozpins office Li passed the cafeteria and bumped into Jun. "Hey Li! What have you been up to?"

"Not much, just relaxing," Li lied, "How about you? In school uniform I see, might I assume you are roleplaying?"

Jun punched Li's arm, "You dick! I have joined back to Beacon! I'm sure you know the rest of team PLYM!" Jun motioned over to the three people behind him.

"Hey, Peter, Michelle, Yu! No hard feelings about the fight, I appreciate what you have done for me!" The twins beamed and hugged Li, Peter grumbled some approval or apology, Li couldn't tell. Li saluted them all and continued on to find Ozpin.

Li headed straight to Ozpins office; quickly checking the time, 13:37.

He buzzed at the door, and a moment later heard the familiar voice, "Please come in."

Li pushed the door open and walked silently up to the clockwork desk, saluting as he stopped, "I would firstly like to apologise for my absence this past week, I have been… preoccupied."

At that Ozpin suddenly seemed very curious, "I hope that the faunus Velvet hasn't been your distraction."

Li only just noticed Goodwitch sitting in the chair nearby, he nodded to her, and continued conversing with Ozpin, "Unfortunately not, sir." Li joked, "I have in fact been investigating the incident at the docks last weekend, in fact I have managed to collect a large quantity of information while I was working with the White Fang."

Ozpin cocked an eyebrow; however Goodwitch's response was far more unhindered. She stood quickly and scolded Li about his stupidity and how irresponsible it was. "You could have gotten yourself or others killed!"

Li winced at that; Ozpin noticed that, and focused his eyes on Li.

Li gave in quickly, "I had to do it. To survive, he would have killed me if he had gotten the chance." Li stood straighter, hoping his explanation would convince himself more than the teachers in front of him.

Both seemed to feel the emotion from the statement, and decided to leave the issue alone.

Li continued on to give them all the information about 'Cinder', 'Roman', 'Adam' and the White Fang leadership.

It was a lot of information; however at the end of it, both teachers seemed unimpressed. "We are sorry Li, but this information doesn't help us much. Apart from the name Cinder, nothing helps, but even that is a name and a vague description." Goodwitch continued relaying all the information they had already gotten.

Every word was a dagger in Li' heart. He had failed, what he did was pointless; everything he had done was pointless. Li couldn't take it anymore. He saluted and left silently, kicking himself every step he made. Li decided to go to the bay window, he needed to think.

Li made it to the bay window and checked the time, 15:06.

Li sat, looking at the city covered in golden light.

He thought about everything he had done in the week, all the moving of cargo. _"I've been more helpful to those bastards than I have to humanity." He thought. _

He heard some steps behind him, and turned to see amber eyes.

He smiled at the eyes, "Hey Blake! It's been a while!"

Blake sat down next to Li, "It has! But what about the bay window rules?"

Li sighed, "I was kinda hoping for someone to talk to, that okay?" Blake nodded; prompting Li to continue, "I spent a week with the white fang, trying to learn more about the attack at the docks, but it turns out the week was spent helping the enemy and not learning anything worthwhile."

Blake's eyes widened, "You were there? What? How did you join them? Why would you join them?" She almost backed away from the bench, until Li reached an arm out, to stop her.

"I stole a suit, and boarded the plane, I spent a week trying to learn what the grand plan was, and I tried to understand why they were working for Roman… the ginger guy." Li let the words pile out, hoping it would somehow make sense to the girl in front of her.

The girl sighed, "I don't think anyone could understand the plight of faunus in just a week, you may be one of us, but the White Fang are so different, they have a deep hate of all humans, and they will do anything to help destroy them."

Li looked quizzically at Blake, "Us? Them? You are talking like a faunus of the White Fang…" Blake quickly realised her mistake, but instead of running, she pointed to her bow.

Li looked up and saw a twitch, "Oooooh! Much more subtle than my way was!" Li joked.

"You don't seem surprised…?"

"I guess I have never thought of anyone being different in a bad way other than myself, I was the only one who was a freak, at least to my mum." Li caught himself, and quickly continued, "I guess I never thought of anyone else being worse or better for any reason, I just never thought about it being an issue."

Blake smiled, happy to have been accepted.

"Lil Jon…" Li whispered.

"Huh?" Blake questioned, barely hearing the fox faunus.

"I left a few seeds to grow back in the White Fang ranks… I hope they grow strong." Blake looked confused, and Li decided to explain to her all about Lil Jon, the meetings, and the manner of his escape. Li's spirits heightened with every word, hoping that what he had done will come to fruition, in some way.

It had been a few hours, and once the sun had set, and some new pictures were taken, Li left Blake to the book she had brought with her.

During Li's ponderings, he realised, that regardless of whether the 'mission' was a success or failure, he had a new mission, and it was to be a long mission.

He went back to his room, and found Velvet as she was getting out of the shower. Li took her in his arms and held her close.

"My mission begins today," he whispered, "What is it you require of me?" He let Velvet down, and stepped back saluting. Velvet smiled and winked; she dropped the towel, "Your first objective is to get me thoroughly rubbed down." The order came as a shock to Li, but he was determined for this mission to succeed.


End file.
